What, Smoothies Help Sleep??
I love hot and cozy drinks for sleep in the winter, but when the nights start to turn warm I like to pull out my insomnia smoothie recipes.
You might be thinking how the heck can smoothies help you sleep? I mean, smoothies are cool and refreshing and…dessert!?
I used to think effective drinks that help sleep had to have hot milk in them, but it doesn’t have to. When you drink a smoothie for sleep that’s made with fruits and vegetables that induce sleep, it becomes a cool and yummy treat to beat insomnia.
Make the Best Insomnia Smoothie Recipes
Magic Bullet NutriBullet 12-Piece High-Speed Blender/Mixer System
To make the best insomnia smoothie recipes, I recommend using a Nutribullet. It’s better than a regular blender in a few ways.
Most of these recipes call for unpeeled fruit. A traditional blender won’t liquify peelings and you’re left with a lumpy smoothie for sleep. Yuck.
A Nutribullet has a larger and stronger motor than standard blenders. I can make a smoothie in less than a minute in my Nutribullet.
That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when I used to use my old blender, I could actually smell the motor and I had to keep stopping, opening it up and stirring it around because chunks had gotten stuck.
A Nutribullet is my top pick because of its performance. The next best blender I recommend is the Nutri Ninja. It is nearly as powerful as the Nutribullet and is just a bit cheaper.
Bananas Before Bedtime Sleep Smoothie Recipe
Bananas contain amino acids and minerals your body needs to start the sleep process naturally, like magnesium and tryptophan. Why are these two important to sleep? A magnesium deficiency causes insomnia, and tryptophan breaks down into the sleep hormones, melatonin and seratonin.
Bananas are one of the best sleep superfoods to eat because of their insomnia busting power. If you’re looking for a natural way to fall asleep, bananas should be at the top of your list before OTC pills.
This is one of my favorite insomnia smoothie recipes because it’s so effective and tasty. In addition to bananas, it has the sleep inducing spice, nutmeg, and the sleep superstar, honey, in it, too.
- 1 UNPEELED banana with the ends cut off
- 1 cup milk (almond or coconut milk can be used)
- 2 tbsp raw honey
- 1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
- a handful of ice
Put all ingredients in your blender and process until smooth and creamy.
*I know an unpeeled banana might sound, well, unappealing. (I know, bad joke 😛 ) This is why you need the Nutribullet, to liquify and extract the peeling.
Cherry Better Sleep Smoothie
Montmorency tart cherries contain the sleep hormone melatonin, something that most of use who suffer from insomnia don’t produce enough of because of our exposure to blue light from our screens, and other bad sleep health habits.
This recipe also has banana and raw honey, which makes this one of the more effective insomnia smoothie recipes. It also has kiwi, which contains high levels of another sleep inducing hormone, seratonin.
If the banana peel from the other recipe turned you off, no worries. This recipe is peel-free.
- 8-10 Montmorency cherries (or 1/4 cup tart cherry juice concentrate)
- 1 banana
- 1 kiwi fruit
- 2 tbsp raw honey
- 1 cup of milk (almond or coconut milk can be used)
- handful of ice
Put all ingredients inside the blender and process until smooth.
Berry Best Smoothie for Sleep
I call this the Berry Best Smoothie for Sleep because nearly all of its ingredients contain trytophan. That makes this drink a powerful sleep aid.
Tryptophan is that wonderful amino acid that makes you go into a turkey coma after Thanksgiving dinner. The reason why it knocks you out like a light is because your body breaks tryptophan down into seratonin and melatonin, the two hormones your body MUST have in order to start the sleep process.
- 1/4 cup frozen strawberries
- 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- 1/2 cup spinach
- 1/2 banana
- A handful of walnuts
- 2 tbsp raw honey
Put all ingredients in your Nutribullet and process until smooth. Adding spinach may sound icky, but it really has no flavor once everything’s mixed up. Be sure not to leave spinach out because it has A LOT of tryptophan in it.
Tropical Dreams Smoothie for Sleep
Pineapple is another melatonin powerhouse. One study found that pineapple actually increases the body’s melatonin production by 266%!
It’s paired with sleep inducing, magnesium rich bananas and coconut milk. Coconut milk is also high in calcium, something your body needs to fall asleep, too, because it works hand in hand with the magnesium.
- 1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks
- 1 banana
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 tbsp raw honey
- a handful of ice
Blend all ingredients together until smooth. In a pinch, I’ve used canned pineapple because I ran out of frozen pineapple. It worked great!
Chocolate Nut Butter Sleepy Smoothie
I’m a chocoholic. If chocolate’s in it, you can bet I’m gonna be all over it. I’m over the moon that it’s a sleep food, too, because chocolate is full of magnesium and tryptophan.
This recipe is a little different from the others because it has whey protein, which doesn’t sound like a sleepy ingredient but it is.
Whey protein decreases the production of cortisol and increases the availability of tryptophan in the body. Just be sure to use a brand that doesn’t have sugar in it. Sugar before bed is a no-no! ( I use Jay Robb, it’s made with stevia.)
And nothing’s better than chocolate than chocolate AND nuts. And whether you add almonds or walnuts, they both contain a lot of magnesium and tryptophan. (and a lot of yum!)
- 1 tbsp organic cacoa powder
- 1 scoop Jay Robb chocolate whey protein
- a handful of almonds or walnuts
- 2 tbsp of raw honey
- a handful of ice
Put everything in the blender and process until smooth. This is one of my favorite insomnia smoothie recipes because it tastes more like a chocolate shake!
Snoozy Smoothie Recipe for Sleep
One of my favorite desserts when I was a kid was gingerbread cookies. My mother had to hide them and meter them out to me whenever she made a batch.
Gingerbread’s main ingredient, blackstrap molasses, is an awesome sleep ingredient because it contains a high amount of magnesium and calcium. It’s the perfect ingredient to use as a sweetener in a sleep smoothie recipe.
- 1 cup milk (almond or coconut milk can be used)
- 2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 1 scoop unflavored whey protein isolate (Jay Robb is my favorite brand)
- 1/4 tsp organic ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- Pinch of pink Himalayan salt (Himalayan salt helps sleep too!)
- a handful of ice
Put all ingredients together and blend until smooth. Drink and sleep well. 🙂
Sound yummy? You might also like this Molasses Sleep Tonic
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Yes, Smoothies Help you Sleep! (and they taste great, too!)
There’s so many foods that help you sleep, some that aren’t that great on their own. It only makes sense to put them in a smoothie. Trust me, I’d rather drink my spinach when it’s covered up with strawberries, blueberries, and honey than eat a bunch of it plain.
Insomnia smoothie recipes are now my favorite sleep drink recipes, regardless of the weather. I feel like I’m having dessert rather than taking something that helps me sleep.
If you’re feeling froggy, try mixing the different main ingredients in these insomnia smoothie recipes. Be creative and become a sleep smoothie mixologist and make your own drink for better sleep.
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