Explore Sleep Teas for National Sleep Awareness Month

Explore Sleep Teas for National Sleep Awareness Month

Sleep is having a moment. Podcasts devote entire episodes to its health benefits. New apps that revolve around helping people achieve restful sleeps get launched every few weeks. Mainstream media routinely explores the importance of sleep for human vitality and happiness, and sleep supplements of all stripes line store shelves.

We too are sleep lovers. Exercise, a healthy diet and smart evening practices — banishing screens and things like email after a certain hour, and limiting nighttime alcohol consumption — contribute mightily toward restorative hours between the sheets.

So does tea.

As traditional Camellia sinensis contains caffeine, it is not the best post-work beverage choice for most of us, even though tea’s caffeine quotient lags far behind that of coffee. But tea is an extremely capacious term, capturing Camellia sinensis as well as an enormous range of caffeine-free herbal teas and tea blends. And some of these botanicals help dial-in powerful sleeps.

March is National Sleep Awareness Month. Why March? Daylight Saving Time. The “spring forward” that we perform during the month — this year, it’s Sunday, March 13 — costs us an hour of sleep. By the end of the month, most people have adapted to the change. But experts believe it takes about a week for most people to adjust.

Ready to improve your sleep — just in time for Daylight Saving Time? Add sleep teas to your daily regime.


Sleep Teas: Organic CHA Relax

We crafted this superb blend to honor our partnership with the University of Colorado’s Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA). The Center serves as a resource for arts and humanities scholars and students, all of whom spend quite a bit of time buried in research, working late to meet deadlines and prepare for exams. Sleep is not always their friend.

This blend offers botanical ingredients that help ease people consumed with intellectual work back into relaxed states. At the same time, it also incorporates plant-based compounds that aid overall health. It’s a gem.

Our organic green rooibos tea serves as the base of CHA Relax. Rooibos, a South African shrub that people across the African nation harvest and brew into tea, offers myriad health benefits, many of which hinge on its high concentration of antioxidants and electrolytes. 

Meanwhile, leaves from the ginkgo leaf, an ancient tree native to China, are widely used to help with memory, brain health and anxiety relief. One study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research found that people suffering from anxiety who were treated with ginkgo experienced better anxiety relief than those who received a placebo. Anxiety is a sleep destroyer.

The blend contains elderflower, which is used to improve respiratory health — and problems associated with breathing often lead to poor sleeps.

Finally, chamomile. Practitioners of natural medicine for centuries have turned to this abundant and highly aromatic yellow flower to bring about stress relief and promote sleep. Brewed chamomile flowers on their own serve as a wonderful sleep tonic. But CHA Relax incorporates complementary herbs to nurture sleep with even more oomph.


Sleep Teas: Organic Night Time Blend

Where CHA Relax eases people into restful states, and invites mental clarity and meditative states prior to sleep — thanks to the ginkgo leaves — our Organic Night Time Blend acts more like a sleep supplement. Sip this beauty an hour before bedtime, and by the time you pull back the blanket your eyes will be extremely heavy.

One of the keys to Night Time Blend’s efficacy is the aforementioned chamomile, a flower dense with a flavonoid called apigenin that binds to brain receptors that influence sleep. Another vital botanical is valerian root, often referred to as “nature’s valium.” 

Numerous studies have explored valerian root’s usefulness as a sleep aid; many of them suggest strong connections between the flower’s root and slumber. It’s the presence of the root in Night Time Blend, we believe, that makes the tea such a potent sleep supporter. 

Finally, this tea also includes catnip, another her commonly used to improve sleep. While the peppermint in the blend also offers mild sleep assists, it also adds wonderful flavor to the tea and incorporates digestive advantages into Night Time Blend.


Sleep Teas: Rooibos Earl Grey

Many blends at Ku Cha House of Tea contribute toward sleep health. Teas like Organic Desert Rose and Organic Meditation Herbal Blend that contain lavender, for example, can be helpful. 

We often are drawn to rooibos-based teas, too. Rooibos doesn’t contain caffeine, and is packed with electrolytes and antioxidants that help the body fight inflammation. As the discomfort that often accompanies inflammation interferes with sleep, rooibos-based teas are generally good for sleep. 

This tea is perfect for people who desire a more traditional tea flavor for their sleep beverage. It’s the Italian citrus fruit bergamot that gives Earl Grey tea its unique flavor, and bergamot figures largely into our Rooibos Earl Grey tea.

In addition to the ambrosial bergamot, this Earl Grey also contains cornflower, a gorgeous blue flower that has nothing to do with the grain corn. One of cornflower’s advantages? Digestive assistance. It’s also a strong immunity booster. 

As sleep experts often point toward postprandial digestive issues as poor-sleep culprits, we love sipping a bit of this tea after dinner. 

National Sleep Awareness Month is nearly upon us, and so is Daylight Saving Time. Embrace sleep tea for the month, and get your sleep on!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *