Woman's Mind-Blowing Sleeping Hack Actually Works And Is Backed By Science

A TikToker's boiled lettuce water sleep hack has turned out to be more than just viral nonsense - it's backed by science. Check it out here:

One of the only downsides of the weather hotting up is that it can make getting to sleep at night more difficult, and no doubt you'd struggle to think of a less appealing beverage on a muggy summer's night than boiled lettuce water.

However, as unappetising as that may sound, you might just want to give it a whirl.

Shapla Hoque shared the tip on her TikTok account in a video which has racked up 4.4 million views.

In the clip, she explains: "Apparently drinking lettuce water makes you sleepy, so sis don't sleep so I'm gonna try it out."

She then proceeds to pour boiling water on her washed lettuce leaves, adding peppermint tea in a bid to stop the tipple from tasting like 's***' - though she later concedes she'd have been better off leaving the tea out for maximum effect.

It didn't matter in the end though, 'cause Shapla reports feeling well and truly inoculated by the end of the vid.

She says: "OK another update, lettuce has crack because your sis is gone."

TikTok/@shapla_11

Now you might think Shapla's overplaying the power of the lettuce, but there's more than just her testimony championing the vegetable's sleep-inducing effects.

It's power comes from its high levels of lactucarium, which scientists found had a sedative effect on mice.

A 2017 study stated: "Lactuca sativa (lettuce), an annual herb which belongs to the Compositae family, is known for its medicinal value. Traditionally, lettuce has been suggested to have a sedative-hypnotic property.

"Lactucopicrin and lactucin are the major active compounds of lactucarium, and were reported to have analgesic activity equal to or greater than that of ibuprofen in mice. They also showed a sedative activity as revealed by measuring the spontaneous movement in mice."

The study concluded: "The results of this study show that lettuce, especially romaine lettuce, is an interesting and cheap source of sleep-potentiating material and antioxidant polyphenols.

"The seed and leaf extracts derived from romaine lettuce potentiates the pentobarbital-induced sleeping behaviour in mice.

"Romaine lettuce could provide extracts with sleep-potentiating activity. In addition, the antioxidant polyphenols being used as natural antioxidants of the brain against the oxidative damage could be obtained from these extracts."

So if you wanna try it for yourself, simply get some romaine lettuce, plonk it in boiling water for about five minutes, and voilà - you've got a lettuce brew to get down your neck, about 20 minutes before bed time.

Topics: Viral, Hack, Interesting, Sleep, Community, TikTok

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey