For many years, I have had a very difficult time sleeping! 10 years ago I was prescribed sleeping medicine to help me sleep. Little did I know back then how terrible these were for you and how hard it is to get off of medicine for sleeping. As I made my journey to a healthier lifestyle, I knew it was time to get off of this medicine. With the help of Chris Dillon of Nu-Health Strategies, I have been able to do just that!
Today I am going to share a recipe that Chris Dillon created for me that helps me sleep naturally. I have a glass of this drink every night and it really helps me relax and get sleepy and more importantly, it helps me stay asleep! Here are the ingredients; Bedtime tea, unrefined sea salt, natural sugar (raw honey, sucanat etc…), gelatin and fat.
There are several elements to this drink and Chris explains why it is necessary to include each ingredient in this recipe.
Salt: Salt brings down adrenalin and other stress hormones. The reason why people have trouble falling asleep or wake up in the middle of the night is due to stress hormones being elevated. Salt downregulates their actions.
Sugar: Honey or sugar is a disaccharide (glucose and fructose). Fructose inhibits glucose from blood sugar to spike. Glucose by itself will cause blood sugar handling issues. This is why honey, sugar, and fruit will not spike blood sugar. When you sleep, you are fasting and you need reserved glycogen stored in your liver to help maintain balanced blood sugar levels while you sleep. When our blood sugar drops, it raises our stress hormones and causes us to wake up. Having a sugar reserve helps prevent this from happening along with the salt to control adrenaline rising.
Gelatin: Gelatin is a protein that is high in proline and glycine which helps counteract tryptophan and cysteine’s stressful effects on the brain. Glycine is recognized as an “inhibitory” neurotransmitter and promotes natural sleep. Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin, which causes inflammation.
Fat: Fats like heavy cream, milk, cheese and so forth help balance the ratios of proteins and carbs in the tea. The fats help keep blood sugar balanced.
I should also note that “bedtime tea” does state to consult your healthcare provider prior to use if you are pregnant or nursing, taking any medication or if you have a medical condition. You can also choose a green tea, red tea, white tea etc…just make sure that there is no caffeine in the tea and that the tea is a right fit for you.
You can play around with this recipe to see which amounts suit you, but it is very important to have all of these elements to create a restful night’s sleep. Give it a try and let me know how your night’s sleep was!
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My Bedtime Drink That Guarantees A Restful Night’s Sleep!
Prep Time: 2 minutes- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 7 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
- Category: drink
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: american
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Learn how to make a bedtime drink that creates a restful nights sleep!
Ingredients
- 1 teabag of bedtime tea
- 16 oz of filtered water
- 1/4–1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
- 1/4–1/2 tsp natural sugar (sucanat, raw honey, etc..)
- 1 tbsp gelatin from a grass fed source
- 2–3 tsp half and half, heavy cream, raw milk
Instructions
- Heat water in a kettle.
- Add all ingredients to your cup except your cream and tea bag.
- Pour hot water into your cup and stir.
- Add cream and tea bag and let steep for 5 minutes.
- Remove tea bag and drink.
About Chris Dillon
About Chris Dillon
Chris Dillon is a Chek Practitioner, Holistic Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach, Metabolic Typing Advisor and a Massage Therapist. Chris has helped thousands of people to understand health and nutrition better. He is very passionate about educating people about health. I have learned a ton from Chris!
Don’t have all the ingredients? No problem! Click on the links below to see where you can purchase them.
Great points Monique thanks for bringing that up!
You can replace the tea and use milk instead. I make a milkshake before bed with the same components which works better for me with additional thyroid.
You mentioned thyroid. I have to take meds for hypothyroidism.
Would you suggest 1 teaspoon Coconut oil in this tea, maybe instead of teabag?
I’d value your opinion,
Laine
Thanks!!! Two questions… (1) What herbs are in Bedtime Tea? I’d have to make my own down here. (2) Can it be done with just 8 oz of water? I already get up 2-4 times to go to the bathroom… =]
Oops! Make that 3 questions… I can only get store-bought unflavored gelatin down here (it doesn’t list ingredients). Can this harm me or is it just “not as good” as the natural stuff? Thanks!
Hey Sherri, here are the ingredients: Licorice root, spearmint leaf, chamomile flower, skullcap leaf, cardamon seed, cinnamon bark, st. john wort leaf and flower, rose hip, raspberry leaf, valerian root extract, lavender flower, stevia leaf, passion flower extract…that is a large list I know…you can use any tea just make sure it is decaffeinated.
Oh and yes you can do it in 8 oz of water, just might be a bit salty
Thank you!! … and #3? =]
And to answer your last question, the gelatin is a high quality gelatin. If you can find a good quality gelatin over there then you can use that, but the stuff in most US markets is garbage in my opinion. You might have better luck where you are though. 🙂
Yeah, it’s probably garbage, but sometimes we need protein in a fruit smoothie or something so I use it. I’m just trying to figure out if it is harmful or not and maybe it’s better to not use it?
It is hard for me to say without knowing the source, sorry
Yep, it’s weird they don’t list the ingredients! Maybe that should tell me something!! Thanks again for all your help! I have 5 of the above herbs on hand…
I’ll have to give this a try. Lately I’ve been waking up every 1.5 to 2 hrs and my blood pressure is showing the stress of not sleeping well. Thanks Halle! I just need to find the gelatin here. I think one of my local health food stores carries a quality gelatin.