“Eating a daily serving of about one handful of walnuts (40 grams or about 1.5 ounces) with dinner may help improve measures of overall sleep quality and reduce daytime sleepiness in healthy young adults, according to a new randomized controlled trial published in Food and Function. Researchers from the University of Barcelona aimed to study the potential impact that daily walnut consumption could have on specified urine biomarkers (6-SMT, a biproduct of melatonin), sleep quality parameters (sleep latency, wake after sleep onset, awakenings, and efficiency) and daytime sleepiness,” says the California Walnut Commission in a press release on the exciting new results.

“The study evaluated the effects of consuming 40 grams of walnuts daily with dinner over an eight-week period among 76 healthy young adults ages 20-28 (85 percent female), who completed both walnut and control phases in a crossover design. Researchers found that eating walnuts boosted a key biomarker of the sleep-regulating hormone, melatonin, which was significantly increased in evening urine samples after a four-week intervention period when participants consumed walnuts, as compared to the control period. The walnut intervention also shortened the time it took participants to fall asleep by 1.3 minutes, improved overall sleep quality scores, and reduced self-reported daytime sleepiness compared to a control, nut-free period. While sleep quality scores improved, there were no significant differences in measures of circadian-related variables between the intervention and control conditions. With these findings, the researchers suggest walnut consumption could potentially be a simple, food-based approach to supporting healthy sleep.”

“*This research was funded by the California Walnut Commission,” the very lengthy press release says in italicized small print at the bottom. Big Walnut is mocking you to your faces, people.