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!
PrintMy 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
Description
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
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.
Michelle nunnery says
I tried it, bought all the ingredients, even had the grass fed gelatin in my cupboard. Went to bed at 10 pm and was up all night with my eyes wide open. It’ 5 am and I just made another cup, thinking that maybe I was anxious. I am going to try again. Fingers crossed.
Michelle Nunnery says
Ok, after drinking another around five am, I wrote my post, went to bed and slept until 9:30. I believe I could have slept longer, but my dogs got me up. It was very hard to get up to let them out and I feel groggy, which tells me I finally hit that deep sleep. I will try this again tonight. One thing I have noticed is that it takes some time to kick in, for me it was about 45 minutes.
Halle Cottis says
Sounds like it is working for you, Michelle. I agree that it can take some time to wind down and for it to kick in. Keep us posted.
Halle Cottis says
Have you tried the 4-7-8 breathing exercise? That can really help wind you down. Keep at it. Sometimes when you are thinking about something too much, it’s hard to turn your mind off. You may even want to do some guided imagery (many can be found on YouTube) to refocus your mind before bed.
Marcy says
I’m going to try this for the 1st time tonight. I up every 1hr. To 2 hr. Need good sleep.
Marcy says
Last night was my 1st time trying this.
I went to sleep within 30 min. But woke up at 11:00 pm and 1 am could not go back to sleep. Will try again to night
Marcy says
Still not sleeping more than 2 hrs. At a time. Any suggestions
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