The Surprising Reasons Why Banana Tea Helps You Sleep

Real talk: can this tea really help you sleep?

You might be sick of using over-the-counter medications to try to sleep at night. However, you’re probably rightfully skeptical, hearing about yet another organic remedy that will allegedly help with your insomnia. So, let’s answer your burning question right away: just what makes banana tea so helpful when you’re having trouble snoozing?

Part of why sipping this tea before bedtime is effective is the same reason that drinking a glass of warm milk can help: a warm beverage at night effectively sends a signal to your body and mind that you are getting ready to hit the hay. But banana tea is more effective because it is chock-full of ingredients that further help you sleep, and we’re going to take a closer look at the most effective ingredients.

RELATED: 17 Tips To Get More Deep Sleep

The magnesium in this tea will send you to dreamland

One of the more frustrating aspects of sleep research is that researchers often understand that certain minerals can help you sleep without knowing exactly why that is. Magnesium is a good example of this: some studies have found that a magnesium deficiency can keep you from sleeping (possibly because magnesium helps your body produce melatonin), and that’s why some people take supplements to get more of this mineral into their diet.

And you guessed it: bananas are a solid source of magnesium. While banana tea won’t give you all of your recommended magnesium intake, it will certainly improve it. Combined with the other special ingredients, this may be enough to help you finally get more sleep.

The tryptophan in banana tea helps you sleep

The one time when most people don’t have trouble sleeping is the evening of Thanksgiving. Eating all that rich food may have that effect, and some people think the tryptophan in turkey further helps you sleep. That’s because tryptophan turns into serotonin and then melatonin in your body, and this sends signals that it’s time to catch a few winks.

Obviously, bananas don’t pack as much tryptophan as a Thanksgiving feast, but both bananas and banana tea provide small doses of the tryptophan that your body can’t produce on its own. That might be enough to help you get Thanksgiving night sleep every night of the year!

Real potassium power when it comes to getting a full night’s sleep

Conceptual image. Over ripe banana beside a ripe banana. Ageing process.

One of the more frustrating things about life is discovering how much the little things can cause you and your body some big trouble. A major example of that is potassium deficiency. In short, some studies have shown that those who don’t get enough potassium (particularly women) can cause painful muscle cramps. Those cramps would be annoying at any time of day or night, but they are especially pesky when you are trying to get to sleep.

If you’re worried that you’re not getting enough potassium in your own diet (nightly muscle cramps are a major sign of this), then it’s time to drink some banana tea before bedtime. Obviously, bananas are a great source of potassium, and the tea provides plenty of this mineral and other helpful ingredients to help you get that sleep you’ve been missing out on.

Banana tea is also filled with helpful vitamins and antioxidants

We’ve already reviewed the major ingredients inside banana tea, and those ingredients alone may be enough to help you finally put insomnia in its place. But as luck would have it, there are a few more helpful ingredients inside this tea that can help you get more sleep and even boost your overall health.

For example, banana tea has Vitamin B6 in it, and some studies have found that this vitamin can help you get more sleep. Like magnesium, it is often sold as a supplement to do just that, but the tea helps you get more B6 each day in a fun and tasty way. On top of that, banana tea is filled with antioxidants which help you get more sleep by reducing the oxidative stress that has likely been keeping you from getting to sleep and staying there.

We’ve enjoyed sipping this tea each night; it helps us to sleep, and as an added bonus, it gives us a tasty treat to look forward to each night before bedtime.