Good sleep is crucial for more than just maintaining optimal health. It also plays a vital role in brain function, emotional health, and daytime performance. Plus, it significantly impacts your physical health. From balancing hormone levels to regulating blood pressure to healthy growth, development, and weight control… proper rest affects it all!
But, getting a good night’s sleep is a simple luxury not everyone is fortunate enough to enjoy. Whether it’s due to stress, anxiety, or even a busy schedule, quality sleep is becoming harder and harder to come by for a lot of people. In fact, over 60 million Americans have trouble sleeping or suffer from insomnia, a sleep disorder. And often, they turn to sleep aids to help get some much-needed Zzzs.
However, sleep aids aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be… Some can leave you feeling groggy and tired, and you may even feel like you have a hangover the next morning. While some sleep aids are safe in the short-term, they can become addicting and cause problems with memory and attention with long-term use.
Thankfully there are some pretty amazing holistic remedies that can naturally help you sleep better without having to rely on over the counter or prescription sleep meds. Remedies like an herbal tea for sleep, which can be a great alternative to improve sleep quality and overall health.
So if you’re more of a natural remedy kind of person and are looking for a long-term solution to sleeplessness, we’ve got you covered with this list of the best teas to drink before bed. Here we’ll dive into these key questions, and even reveal the best tea for sleep!
- What causes poor sleep?
- How can poor sleep affect you in the long run?
- How can tea help you sleep better?
- What are the top 7 best teas to drink before bed?
- What is the #1 BEST tea for sleep?
Causes Of Poor Sleep
There are a handful of reasons why a person could be experiencing poor quality sleep. Some of the most common internal and external factors that contribute to poor sleep are:
- Stress, anxiety, or depression
- Certain illnesses or medical issues
- Medications
- Sleep disorders
- External factors like jet lag, shift work, and bedroom lighting, and consuming caffeine or using technology before bed.
Side Effects Of Poor Sleep
Aside from excessive daytime sleepiness, getting poor quality sleep on a regular basis can lead to a number of other side effects that can have adverse effects on your health, including:
- Weakened immune system
- Weight gain
- Irritability and moodiness
- Fatigue
- Decreased libido
- Forgetfulness or “mental fog”
- Headaches
- Increased risk of respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes
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How Can Tea Help You Sleep Better?
Herbal teas have been used for centuries as a natural remedy for common ailments and conditions—there are teas for sore throats, teas for stomach aches, teas for weight loss, and, you guessed it, teas for sleep.
The best teas for sleep are known to have certain relaxation and sedative properties that can send you into a slumber so calming even Sleeping Beauty would be jealous. But, a good night time tea does so much more than help you sleep—it contains medicinal characteristics that can improve your overall health!
So, let’s dive into the top 7 best teas to drink before bed in more detail to shed some light on how they can help improve sleep quality and the other health benefits you can expect when you add them to your nightly routine.
7 Best Teas To Drink Before Bed
1. Chamomile
Chamomile tea is becoming increasingly popular each year, not just for it’s delicious flavor, but for its incredible health and sleep benefits. This fresh-fragranced flower tastes much like a crisp, earthy apple with a hint of floral sweetness—making it a light, airy, and extremely palatable choice to enjoy in the evening.
Chamomile is commonly used to treat ailments such as fever, inflammation, muscle spasms, menstrual cramps, and more, but it’s most popular for treating insomnia. The dried flowers of chamomile have a sedative effect due to the flavonoid, apigenin, that binds the benzodiazepine receptors in the brain.
These cell receptors are responsible for triggering the GABA neurotransmitter which activates the sedative, hypnotic (sleep-inducing), anxiolytic (anti-anxiety), anticonvulsant, and muscle relaxant properties in the body. It can even calm nerves, naturally reduce anxiety, and treat hysteria, nightmares, and other conditions that contribute to chronic sleep issues. All so you can enjoy deep, sound sleep.
In addition to it being a great tea for insomnia, chamomile tea is also valued as a digestive relaxant that can heal a disrupted digestive system while you sleep.
2. Lavender
We all know how incredibly soothing the scent of lavender can be, especially when you’re desperate to relax. Even the slightest whiff of this heavenly flower can have you feeling like you’ve just received a spa treatment. Aromatherapy is one of the most popular ways to take advantage of lavender’s stress-relieving benefits, but it’s not the only way. In fact, lavender tea has been suggested to be an excellent natural remedy to treat insomnia and improve sleep quality.
Like chamomile tea, dried lavender buds contain the flavonoid apigenin that sends a neurological signal to your brain to relax. This can reduce anxiety and cause sleepiness. A study conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria showed that oral doses of lavender had a significant beneficial influence on quality of sleep. What’s more, the oral doses of lavender led to improvement in the duration of sleep, which improved general mental and physical health without causing any unwanted side effects (side effects that often come with prescription sedatives).
Lavender tea has also been shown to help people who suffer from anxiety disorders with restless sleep habits get the rest they need. This easily makes lavender one of the best teas for sleep in my book!
3. Lemon Balm
Despite popular belief, lemon balm isn’t related to the citrusy fruit we’re most familiar with at all, but is actually a member of the mint family! It’s a calming herb that is most notable for its stress relieving properties—which explains why it’s found in so many different blends of night time tea. Unlike the other teas for sleep found on our list, lemon balm is often combined with other calming herbs and teas to promote relaxation, reduce anxiety, and improve sleep quality.
In fact, a research study discovered that when lemon balm is paired with other relaxing herbs, like chamomile, and valerian root (which we’ll discuss in a moment), 81% of participants of the study reported better quality sleep than those who consumed the teas individually.
Although there are few studies that examined the effects of lemon balm and sleep on their own, there is something special about this refreshing, bright, and citrusy herb when it’s combined with other teas for sleep, which is why it landed on our list for best teas to drink before bed!
4. Valerian Root
The use of valerian dates back to the 2nd century, where it’s therapeutic uses for treating insomnia, nervousness, trembling, and headaches were documented by Hippocrates himself. In most recent years, it’s been widely used to treat sleep disorders, like insomnia.
A few ingredients have been suggested to be the primary source of valerian root’s sedative effects—valerenic acid and its derivatives, iridoids which include valepotriates, and the GABA neurotransmitters that signal the sedative effect to the brain (similar to that in chamomile tea).
However, the flavor of valerian root tea can be off-putting, so it’s often consumed with other, more flavorful teas for sleep, which explains why it’s often combined with lemon balm!
5. Peppermint
Similar to lavender, peppermint has a lot of pain-relieving benefits when applied topically. It can easily soothe a tension headache, muscle aches, and even itchy skin. But drinking peppermint tea before bed is known for keeping your body and muscles relaxed, which can help people who have a tendency to toss and turn throughout the night.
Another benefit of peppermint tea is its effect on your digestive system. It contains anti-inflammatory properties that can help relieve intestinal cramping, and reduce gas production (which contributes to bloating), and has been reported to help alleviate IBS symptoms and soothe irritation.
Not to mention it’s refreshing flavor!
6. Rooibos
Rooibos tea (pronounced roy-bus), is bright red in color and native to South Africa. It’s incredibly smooth with a natural sweetness and has a slight nutty taste—so not only is it enjoyable to drink on its own accord, but it also blends nicely with other teas. Rooibos is packed with antioxidants and has even been mentioned on Time’s list of top 50 healthiest foods of all time!
Rooibos is rich in polyphenols, including two rare flavonoids known as nothofagin and aspalathin. Research suggests that aspalathin helps reduce stress hormones that trigger hunger and fat storage, which is also linked to heart disease, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.
Rooibos tea is also known to calm muscle spasms, allowing your body to fully relax at the end of the day.
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So, What Is The #1 BEST Tea For Sleep?
ZzzTox
We’ve learned a lot about all the best tea to help sleep, and they’re all great options. But, if you’re looking for the #1 best tea to drink before bed, there’s one night time tea that offers all of these incredible benefits in just ONE cup—and that’s SkinnyFit ZzzTox!
ZzzTox is a natural blend of the best stress-fighting superfoods (including the ones listed above) that promote better rest and deeper sleep. It’s designed to calm your mind, body, and digestion, while releasing harmful toxins.
Imagine being able to drink all of the best night time teas at once and getting the best night’s sleep you’ve ever had… well, with ZzzTox, you CAN!
In addition to its amazing sleep benefits, drinking just one cup before bed each night can help fight stress-induced weight gain and bloating—and if you’re trying to lose weight, you know how stressful the process can be! ZzzTox is completely free of caffeine, gluten, dairy, and soy, AND it’s non-GMO, and vegan!
It even has a natural vanilla flavor that not only adds a delicious aroma and taste, but can send you into a zen-like state the second the brewing process begins.
How To Use SkinnyFit ZzzTox
Enjoying the benefits of ZzzTox couldn’t be easier. Just like any other night time tea, you’ll want to add boiling water to one tea bag and brew for 5-7 minutes. Easy as that! But I have to warn you, once you try it, you’ll want to drink it all the time–it’s THAT delicious.
It’s for that exact reason why ZzzTox can be used in more ways that one. It can be used to make a delicious lavender London fog latte, a banana-berry smoothie, and even a refreshing blackberry infused iced tea! The possibilities for enjoying such a relaxing tea are endless.
The Bottom Line
A night time tea is the best natural remedy for sleep issues. Whether it’s insomnia, restlessness, nightmares, stress, or digestive issues that keep you up at night, you can rest easy with a good tea to help sleep. If you’re looking to take advantage of all of the health benefits found in the best teas for insomnia, you’ll absolutely fall in love SkinnyFit ZzzTox.
ZzzTox is a natural blend of chamomile, lavender, lemon balm, valerian root, peppermint, rooibos, cornflower, and natural vanilla flavor to help you de-stress and get the quality sleep you deserve.
