There is one small study I keep coming back to when people ask me whether a juice can help them sleep. Twenty-four adults with mild sleep trouble ate two kiwifruit an hour before bed for four weeks, and they nodded off a little faster and slept a touch better. That is one trial, not a cure, but kiwifruit is the only fruit I know of with even that much evidence sitting behind it, and it beats a glass of squash at ten at night. This is the version I make: three kiwis for the fruit itself, a cucumber to keep the whole thing light, one apple to take the edge off the tartness and half a lemon to lift it. It drinks like a fresh green juice, not a sweet smoothie.
Why these ingredients work
Kiwifruit is the reason to make this at all. It is unusually high in vitamin C, close to 90 mg per 100 g of flesh, which is nearly double what a sweet orange gives you by weight, and it is one of the very few fruits that also carries serotonin and folate, the compounds the sleep researchers were most interested in. One honest catch: the trial used whole fruit, not juice, and nobody has repeated it on a big scale, so think of this as a gentle nudge towards sleep rather than a treatment.
Cucumber is in here for volume and water rather than for any claim of its own. It keeps the glass light so you are not drinking a huge slug of fruit sugar right before bed, and it brings a little potassium and vitamin K along with it. The apple does the sweetening that makes the kiwi drinkable and the lemon sharpens it. Because most of the vitamin C, folate and potassium in these ingredients is water-soluble, a good share of it ends up in the glass. The fibre does not, so this is not the same as eating the fruit whole, and the sugar reaches you faster.
FAQ
Does kiwi juice actually help you sleep?
Honestly, the evidence is one small trial. Lin and colleagues asked 24 adults with self-reported sleep problems to eat two kiwifruit an hour before bed for four weeks and they fell asleep faster and slept slightly longer and more efficiently (Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2011). No one has repeated it at that scale, the participants ate the whole fruit rather than drinking the juice, and the effect was modest. Treat it as a nice habit with a bit of research behind it, not as a remedy. If you have real insomnia, that is a conversation for your GP.
Is it alright to drink this right before bed?
Give it an hour or so. A glass carries around 20 g of fruit sugar, which is fine but not ideal as the very last thing you swallow, and the lemon makes it acidic, so rinse your mouth with water afterwards and leave brushing your teeth until the morning. If you are watching your blood sugar, keep it to one glass and have it with your evening meal instead.
Can I make it without a juicer?
Yes. Peel the kiwis and the lemon, chop the cucumber and apple, blitz everything with 150 ml of cold water for about a minute, then strain through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve. Straining is not optional here, because kiwi seeds and skin turn the drink gritty. Drink it within a day.
More brain-friendly recipes: see the full Brain juices collection.
Kiwi Juice for Sleep: Cucumber, Apple and Lemon
Equipment
- Nut milk bag
Ingredients
For the juice
- 3 ripe green kiwifruit peeled (about 225 g)
- 1 cucumber about 300 g
- 1 sweet apple about 150 g
- 1/2 unwaxed lemon peeled
Instructions
Juicer method
- Peel the kiwis and cut them into halves. Top and tail the cucumber and cut it into batons long enough to fit your feed chute. Quarter and core the apple, and peel the lemon.
- Feed everything through the juicer, alternating the soft kiwi with the firmer apple and cucumber so the pulp keeps moving.
- Stir, pour over ice if you like, and drink it fresh. It keeps for a few hours in the fridge, so make just what you need.
Blender method
- Peel the kiwis and the lemon, roughly chop the cucumber and apple, and put everything in a high-speed blender with 150 ml of cold water.
- Blitz for 45 to 60 seconds until completely smooth.
- Strain through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve into a jug, pressing the pulp to get all the liquid out. Kiwi seeds and skin turn the drink gritty, so do not skip this step.
- Chill and drink within a day.