Smoothies are a quick and simple way of adding plenty of healthy food to your diet – and with minimal effort and the right tools to hand, you can easily whip up something that’s delicious to enjoy anytime during the day, as well as being a great way of promoting a good night’s sleep.
There are plenty of fruits and even vegetables that can be added to each of these recipes, which means they can easily be tailored to everyone’s taste, and they even include a few key ingredients that can induce sleep and the feeling of tiredness – next time you’re looking for the ideal evening snack, reach for the blender instead of the sweet treats cupboard!
This wouldn’t be a list of super smoothies without including a green smoothie – the colour alone says “I’m on a health kick”, but look further into the ingredients and they also say, “I’m going to get the best night’s sleep ever”.
The bananas in this recipe add rich potassium levels, and the kale adds vitamin B6, which is key to creating melatonin. Mixed with pure orange juice to break it down and flaxseeds for added extra omega-3s, this green smoothie will be a great kick-starter to your morning as well as a healthy end to your day.
This next smoothie, hailed the ‘Sweet Dreams Smoothie’, is the perfect choice to enjoy before bed; made with warm milk, it contains the right amount of sleep-inducing calcium thanks to all the tryptophan, plus it wouldn’t be a sleepy smoothie without bananas and with the addition of cherries adding that extra melatonin, making this the ideal smoothie for a soothing night’s sleep.
Did you know that nuts and flax seeds are a great addition to smoothies? Not only are they great for promoting healthy sleep, but adding them to everything from salads to yoghurts can make them both filling and wholesome. This easy almond and flaxseed smoothie recipe can be left plain, or ground cinnamon can be added if you’d like an extra kick.
Lastly, we have this ‘Sleepy Seed Smoothie’ made with sunflower and pumpkin seeds, which are high in tryptophan – with added banana and blueberries, this smoothie becomes both a healthy addition to lunch and also a nutritious drink to have close to bedtime.
Smoothies aren’t just for summer! As we said earlier, you can swap and change the ingredients to suit the season, so with January still being cold and grey, you may want to add in something like oats to make your smoothies slightly more filling. The more colourful smoothies containing things like blueberries or strawberries are a sure way to brighten up a dull morning.
What’s your favourite smoothie recipe? Will you be making smoothies this month as part of your sleep routine?
Sleep well!
