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Research Shows This Little-Known Fruit Can Help You Fall Asleep A Lot Faster

Author:

Emma Loewe

April 20, 2024

By Emma Loewe

mbg Contributor

Emma Loewe is the former Sustainability and Health Director at mindbodygreen. She is the author of "Return to Nature: The New Science of How Natural Landscapes Restore Us" and the co-author of "The Spirit Almanac: A Modern Guide To Ancient Self Care." Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,500 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes.

Image by Adene Sanchez / istock

April 20, 2024

Chamomile, valerian, lemon balm—certain well-known plants have become synonymous with bedtime.

But even those with cabinets stocked with popular nighttime teas and tinctures may be missing out on one sleep-inducing fruit: jujube.

Widely used as food and in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years 1, jujube has been shown to help calm the mind and relax the body, among other things.*

While research isn't conclusive (rigorous clinical trials are lacking), some preliminary studies on the fruit, fruit extract, and seed extract do support these benefits.

It also offers additional perks, like supporting digestion and, you guessed it, sleep.* Here's how.

The research on how jujube enhances sleep

Jujube fruit (Ziziphus jujuba), also known as the jujube date or red date, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for calming and sedation for thousands of years.*

sleep support+

That's because this little red or green plant is nutrient-dense and packed with antioxidants, amino acids, flavonoids, saponins, and polysaccharides, and these compounds help promote rest via multiple pathways.

For starters, jujube's antioxidants help protect cells against free radicals, reducing oxidative stress pathways that can make it difficult to fall asleep.* One of its flavonoids, spinosin, also seems to affect the body's serotonin receptors 2 and kick-start sleepiness.*

As mbg previously reported, the saponins in both jujube fruit and seeds also have calming properties.*

Finally, jujube has been shown to have a neuroprotective effect on the mind 3—reducing mental chatter while promoting memory and learning.*

More research

Modern research is emerging to further validate the ancient remedy. Recently, a small, randomized study out of Australia found that those who took jujube seeds nightly for four weeks reported having longer, higher-quality sleep than those who took a placebo.*

Another randomized control trial on healthy adults found that a sleep complex containing jujube improved sleep quality, as well as mood and energy levels, over the course of two weeks.*

Jujube has also been shown to reduce sleep onset—the time it takes to fall asleep—by 10 minutes, on average, compared to a placebo.*

Finally, a 2020 study found that postmenopausal women who consumed jujube seed daily for 21 days also experienced improved sleep quality and fewer sleep disturbances, leading authors to call it a promising herbal remedy for rest.*

While you can't find this soothing and strengthening fruit in every grocery store in the U.S., most health food shops will stock it. You can either eat jujube plain (it has a sweet, tart flavor), sip it as a sleepytime tea, or reap its benefits in a flavorless supplement, like mbg's sleep support+.

You'll find 225 milligrams of jujube fruit extract in every serving of sleep support+, where it's combined with two other sleep-promoting compounds: magnesium bisglycinate and PharmaGABA®.*

The result is a nightly supplement that starts by helping the mind and body wind down for bed—but doesn't stop there.*

The research-backed sleep aid is also designed to help people stay asleep through the whole night and reach the deeper sleep stages where most rest and repair happens.* Reviewers note that it's given them the best sleep they've had in years.*

The takeaway

At mindbodygreen, we respect traditional remedies that have withstood the test of time, which is why we chose to include jujube in our bestselling sleep supplement.

Try this funky fruit for yourself, and see why it still deserves a place on everyone's nightstand. Or, browse through our list of other expert-approved foods to help you catch some zzz's.