5 Benefits of cherries that you didn't expect

There are no doubt about the many good benefits of fruits, including cherries. Even though it is quite unique because of its small size, there are a myriad of benefits of cherries that you shouldn't miss. What are you curious about? Check out the following reviews.

Health benefits of cherries

1. Helps sleep faster

Already feeling tired and sleepy, but can't sleep? Some people experience this, perhaps due to hormonal imbalance in the body, stress, too much thinking, and so on. If this condition is allowed to drag on, it can increase the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.

Well, Tara Gidu Collingworth, RD, a nutritionist and author of the Flat Belly Cookbook for Dummies, advises those of you who often have trouble sleeping to try drinking a glass of cherry fruit juice. The reason is, cherries are rich in melatonin, a hormone that plays a role in regulating the wake-sleep cycle in the body.

This was also confirmed by a study that asked participants to drink cherry juice twice a day - namely after waking up and before dinner. The results showed that participants slept longer after regularly drinking cherry juice.

Interested in trying it? You can drink half to one glass of unsweetened cherry juice on a regular basis one hour before bedtime.

2. Good source of nutrition

The red color of the cherry skin is not only able to enhance its appearance. The distinctive red color of cherries comes from their high content of anthocyanins, which are a type of antioxidant that works to fight free radical damage in the body due to oxidative stress.

A 2018 study published in the journal Nutrients stated that cherries contain many nutrients that are important for the body. Among them are fiber, carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, but this fruit is low in calories so it is safe to use as a snack for those of you who are afraid of fat.

3. Relieves joint pain

Joint pain, also known as arthritis, often makes sufferers feel uncomfortable. In fact, not infrequently joint pain hinders daily activities. Well, the other benefits of cherries that you can get are to help reduce pain in the joints.

A study conducted on 20 women aged 40-70 years with complaints of joint pain found that drinking cherry juice regularly 2 times a day for 3 weeks was able to significantly reduce inflammation which is the cause of joint pain.

4. Relieve muscle pain after exercise

For those of you who like to exercise and often experience muscle pain after training, a glass of cherry juice can help relieve pain. A study reported that marathon runners who regularly drank cherry juice during the week leading up to a race experienced less muscle pain than athletes who didn't drink cherry juice.

Researchers suspect this is due to the antioxidant content in cherries, which help reduce inflammation in the muscles after hard work. Moreover, cherry juice is also believed to help calm the body after exercising.

5. Lowering blood pressure

Last but not least, the benefits of cherries that are a pity to miss are that they help lower blood pressure. According to a 2016 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, this is because cherries are high in polyphenols. Polyphenols are a type of antioxidant that are believed to help lower blood pressure levels in the body.

Not only that, scientists in the UK found that cherry juice works more effectively in lowering blood pressure, after three hours of consumption.

Now that you know all the goodness of cherries, from now on don't get rid of cherries in tarts, ice cream, or any other dish. It is precisely this small fruit that has many good benefits for health.

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