The Nightcap Without the Alcohol

What a nightcap actually does to sleep

A review of every known study of alcohol and sleep in healthy people found the same pattern at all doses: alcohol helps you fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply in the first half of the night, then disrupts the second half. It also delays the first period of dreaming (REM) sleep, and at moderate and higher doses reduces REM across the night (Ebrahim et al., 2013).

That’s why a nightcap can feel like it works: you drop off quickly. The cost comes at 3am.

Warm chamomile and tart cherry nightcap

Makes 1 mug · 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 chamomile tea bag, or 1 tablespoon dried chamomile flowers
• 250 ml just-boiled water
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) tart cherry concentrate, such as Montmorency, or 120 ml tart cherry juice and less water
• Optional: 10 g unflavoured collagen peptides
• Optional: a thin slice of fresh ginger or a strip of orange peel

Method

1. Steep the chamomile (and ginger or peel, if using) in the water for 5–7 minutes, covered so the aroma stays in.
2. Remove the tea bag or strain.
3. Stir in the tart cherry. Let it cool to drinking temperature.
4. If using collagen, whisk it in last; it dissolves best in warm rather than boiling liquid.
5. Drink it 30–60 minutes before bed, somewhere other than in front of a screen.

If you already get up in the night to pass urine, have it earlier in the evening, or make half a mug. A full mug close to bedtime is one more reason to wake. That’s common sense rather than a trial result, but it’s worth changing one thing at a time and seeing what happens.

What each ingredient brings, honestly graded

Chamomile — Grade: mixed. A 2024 meta-analysis of 10 trials (772 people) found chamomile improved scores on a standard sleep-quality questionnaire, and in two of three trials that measured it, fewer night-time wakings. It didn’t lengthen sleep or improve daytime tiredness. The trials disagreed a lot, they used different chamomile products, and only one checked what was actually in its product (Kazemi et al., 2024).

Tart cherry — Grade: mixed. Tart cherries contain small amounts of melatonin, which is why they’re sold for sleep. The trials disagree. A 30-day trial in 44 healthy adults, taking either two 240 ml bottles of juice a day or capsules, found no difference in sleep time or quality compared with placebo (Hillman et al., 2022). A two-day trial in 19 elite female hockey players found some improvement on sleep trackers (Chung et al., 2022). Researchers planning a new trial in 2026 described the older-adult evidence as "two small, preliminary pilot studies" (VanderMark et al., 2026). It’s here mainly for flavour, colour and a little sourness, and that’s an honest reason to include it.

Collagen (optional) — Grade: early (one small trial). Collagen is rich in glycine, this month’s supplement. One small trial found fewer night-time wakings with 15 g of collagen before bed, and no change in anything else it measured. See the glycine piece for what that trial did and didn’t show. Who paid: two of that trial’s authors worked for a collagen manufacturer, and in a meta-analysis of 23 trials of collagen for skin, the benefits appeared only in manufacturer-funded trials, not in independent ones (Myung & Park, 2025).

The ritual — Grade: none (my clinical experience). The strongest thing in this mug is probably the habit: the same drink, at the same time, in a calm place, signalling that the day is done. That’s not a trial result. It’s what I’ve seen work, and it’s free.

Who should be careful

• Warfarin or other blood thinners: chamomile has been linked to one case of serious bleeding in a 70-year-old woman on warfarin who was using chamomile tea and lotion (Segal & Pilote, 2006). It’s a single case report, but check with your pharmacist.
• Daisy-family allergies (ragweed, chrysanthemum): chamomile is in the same family.
• Blood sugar: tart cherry is still fruit sugar. Keep to the amount above, or use less.
• If you rely on alcohol to get to sleep, or find it hard to go without it, talk to your GP. Stopping suddenly after heavy, regular drinking can be dangerous.

The bottom line

• Alcohol helps you drop off and then breaks up the second half of the night.
• Chamomile and tart cherry are mixed; collagen is early.
• The ritual is the real recipe: a warm, non-alcoholic signal that the day is over.

Sources

PubMed records resolved and abstracts checked 5 October 2026.

Chung J, Choi M, Lee K. Effects of short-term intake of Montmorency tart cherry juice on sleep quality after intermittent exercise in elite female field hockey players: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022;19(16):10272. PMID 36011907. doi:10.3390/ijerph191610272

Ebrahim IO, Shapiro CM, Williams AJ, Fenwick PB. Alcohol and sleep I: effects on normal sleep. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2013;37(4):539–549. PMID 23347102. doi:10.1111/acer.12006

Hillman AR, Trickett O, Brodsky C, Chrismas B. Montmorency tart cherry supplementation does not impact sleep, body composition, cellular health, or blood pressure in healthy adults. Nutr Health 32(1):239–248 (first published online 2022). PMID 35790450. doi:10.1177/02601060221111230

Kazemi A, Shojaei-Zarghani S, Eskandarzadeh P, Hashempur MH. Effects of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) on sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Complement Ther Med 2024;84:103071. PMID 39106912. doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2024.103071

Myung SK, Park Y. Effects of collagen supplements on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Med 2025;138(9):1264–1277. PMID 40324552. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2025.04.034

Segal R, Pilote L. Warfarin interaction with Matricaria chamomilla. CMAJ 2006;174(9):1281–1282. PMID 16636327. doi:10.1503/cmaj.051191

VanderMark E, Baniassadi A, Wolfe A, et al. CherryZZZ: a protocol for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over pilot study testing tart cherry juice in older adults with self-reported insomnia. Nutrients 2026;18(6):922. PMID 41901097. doi:10.3390/nu18060922