Making the Natural Sleep-Aid is a Breeze
The recipe is simple enough. You’ll need:
- 1 organic banana with the peel still on
- 1 small pot of boiling water
- a little dash of cinnamon
The first thing you do is cut off both ends of the banana. Next, put the banana into a pot of boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes to allow the magnesium and potassium to leech into the water. Finally, sprinkle some cinnamon into the water and let it simmer for two additional minutes. Use a slotted spoon to fish the banana out of the water or pour the water through a coffee filter or tea strainer and into a mug. If you’d like to add some sugar or honey, that’s fine too, though remember that sweeteners can spike your blood-sugar levels before bed.
What to Expect When Drinking Banana Tea
On the night I tried the banana tea, I was surprised at how easy it was to make it. It tasted a little bit bitter, but not at all unpleasant. Almost immediately after drinking the tea, I started to feel drowsy. I’m not sure if that was actually the tea at work or if I was just particularly tired, but I slept very soundly. I woke up around 3 AM, which is normal for me, but I was able to go back to sleep rather quickly. When I woke up in the morning, I felt very well rested.
Sometimes with sleep aids like melatonin or Tylenol PM I wake up feeling a little groggy, but that wasn’t the case this time. I think I’ll need to do a few more experiments to see if the banana tea truly works, though I have to say I’m very impressed so far. Since most people have bananas and cinnamon and their homes already, it’s a pretty low-risk option to try. And even the most challenged chefs among us know how to boil water.
Why not give it a chance? Worst-case you’ll get a little dose of potassium and magnesium and you’ll use up some of those old bananas!
Why not just eat the banana, instead of leeching the nutrients out of it and drinking them? In most cases, real food contains enzymes or other things which are necessary for your body to properly process/absorb those nutrients.
Processing (isolating certain parts of a food and discarding others) and exposing many foods to high heat) is generally bad. This is why sugar is so bad for you. You can eat all the raw sugar cane you want, and it won’t rot your teeth or give you diabetes or make you fat- but when you process it and isolate just certain parts of that cane, to eat as processed sugar, it loses all of it’s nutritional value, and actually becomes harmful.
Haven’t we learned anything after so many generations of processed foods, now that the Western world is in miserable health?
You want the nutrients of a banana? Eat the banana!
I take a magnesium and potassium supplement in the evening. Drinking 6 oz of c’nut water is good, I use magnesium citrate usually mixed with hibiscus tea in the evening.
I’m guessing it has something to do with the peel. It looks like you throw the whole banana away after boiling it.
Best sleep advice ever: get every light out of your room. Every. Last. Indicator. Light. Once you’re in pitch darkness, you have no choice but to go to sleep.
THIS is worthless advice, I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work … better off simply eating the banana except that eating just before bed can ALSO keep you awake …
Funny, I’ve been eating a lot of bananas lately- and I never thought about until now, but I’ve been sleeping extremely well!
Besides, some folks just don’t need as much sleep and don’t wake up tired on less sleep than when they were younger and slept more.
I just take a magnesium supplement (capsule) before bed. Works