Something that has helped me fall asleep and retain deeper sleep is Collagen tea. Some studies support this, but more research is needed to identify if collagen before sleeping leads to improved sleep. With that to note, there are almost no side effects from having a scoop or cup of collagen in tea before sleeping. I have recently put a tablespoon of collagen in hot water with a herbal tea bag. You can buy a tea bag that contains collagen, but I like to have a variety of herbal tea flavours with an extra bit of collagen to help me sleep.
Instead of purchasing a tea bag and adding collagen to the tea mixture, Bulletproof’s article “Collagen Sleep Tea” gives a delicious looking recipe. The ingredients you will need are ¾ cup additive-free coconut milk (or any other type of milk), ¾ cup steeped ginger tea, one scoop of collagen tea, and sprinkle some cinnamon in the tea. You can also add some honey if you want to make it even sweeter.
- Add all the ingredients (except cinnamon and honey)into a small saucepan and simmer on low-medium heat.
- Use a whisk or spoon to smooth out lumps. Froth the mixture for a few minutes. Once heated, add the tea mixture to the blender and blitz until frothy for 15-30 seconds.
- Pour into the mug, and you have your tea.
As I said before, I usually have my regular tea with hot water and a herbal tea bag with an added tablespoon of collagen before falling asleep. Adding collagen to any variety of tea you have could benefit your sleep. Even if it does not help your sleep, collagen has essential proteins that your body needs as building blocks for muscles, help repair cells, help make new cells, and serve as carriers for other compounds in the body.
As to what collagen you should use, a while ago, I created a blog post called Ancient Nutrition’s multi collagen protein, which is something I use in the morning and sometimes other smoothies I make during the day. I have been using Bulletproof unflavored collagen protein for the tea, but there are various flavours for collagen protein. Bulletproof also has sleep collagen protein which has some collagen, melatonin, chamomile, and magnesium if you want more compounds that may help you sleep. I’m not too fond of this blend because taking melatonin for prolonged periods may not be that beneficial and could even lead to side effects if you take too much each night. I would recommend the unflavored collagen protein and the multi collagen protein from Ancient Nutrition as my favourite. If you want to use the sleep collagen protein, I would avoid using it every night and maybe do it once or three times a week instead.
Drinking collagen tea before sleeping has been beneficial to getting over my insomniac tendencies and having a good night’s rest. As I said before, even if collagen does not have these effects on sleep, collagen has other benefits in the body that may indirectly help your sleep in the long run. Collagen has been beneficial for me, so I hope you can try it and see if it works for you as well.
