Struggling to sleep? This TikTok lettuce hack can cure insomnia

When the temperature starts to creep up and the late nights out set in, it can be hard to get a decent night’s sleep. Luckily, TikTok has revealed onestrange insomnia cure that has actually been proven to work - Lettuce tea.

Lettuce tea to cure insomnia

We all know that too much screen time can throw our sleeping patterns out of whack, but sometimes it’s just too hard to put our phones down and commit to some shut-eye. If you’re the type to scroll through TikTok in the wee hours, then you may have already come across the Lettuce hack, but you’d be surprised to know it works.

The idea is to make a tea concoction out of romaine lettuce to make yourself drowsy enough to drift off to dreamland. TikTok user Shapla Hoque decided to try out the trend saying:

Apparently drinking lettuce water makes you sleepy. Sis don't sleep so I'm gonna try it out.

Hoque created herself a cup of lettuce teaby soaking the leaves in boiling water and adding some peppermint, so it doesn’t taste ‘like shit.’ The TikTokker started by saying that she felt a little tired, but by the end of the video Shapla was a full-on lettuce tea convert:

Okay, another update. Lettuce has crack because your sis is gone.

Since then, the video has racked up over 4.6 million views, with many other users attempting the hack for themselves. And, this is one TikTok health trend we can’t be mad at because it’s not only harmless but has also been backed by science.

Brian Boxer Wachler, MD, stitched the video explaining that while the hack hasn’t been tested on humans, the effects have been studied in mice. The 2017 study published in the journalFood Science and Biotechnologyfound that romaine lettuce, in particular, had high levels of lactucin, a compound of lactucarium that has sedative properties. The study continued to explain that lettuce seed oil has long been used as ahome remedy for sleep and inflammation.

Romaine lettuce is an interesting and valuable source of sleep potentiating material and contains antioxidant phenolics that protect from the oxidant stress caused by sleep disturbance.

How to make lettuce tea

Now we’ve talked up the lettuce tea trend; we have no doubt you’ll want to give it a go for yourself. So we included some instructions on how to make it. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Wash a handful of romaine lettuce leaves.
2. Place the leaves in your mug and pour hot water over top. You can also add some peppermint tea or ginger for flavour.
3. Let steep until the lettuce leaves are wilted.
4. Remove the leaves and enjoy your secret sleeping potion.

If you’re feeling a little sleep-deprived, try giving the lettuce tea hack a try. Otherwise, you can always stick to the tried and true lifestyle changes such as exercise, regulated screen time and avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bed.