For those who live in the UK, sleep deprivation is a real problem. Statistics show more than one in every three people suffering from it according to official estimates.

Not getting the required amount of sleep each night can be very detrimental to you. It can open you to dozens of serious health conditions like diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Suffering from constant lack of sleep can also shorten your life expectancy.

Fortunately, the problem is not without a solution. Making necessary changes to your lifestyle could go a long way in getting that much-needed sleep. Your daily diet plays a major role in achieving this goal. While there are dietary choices that could obstruct your sleep-wake cycle, other diet types can help enhance your sleep cycle.

A Refreshing Solution

Drinking a particular herbal tea before going to bed has been known to help you get a good night’s sleep. Long celebrated for their health-enhancing properties, there is one herbal tea type that can help you go to sleep.

Researchers in several studies have found that drinking passionflower tea before going to bed can help you sleep quickly and better. A herbal supplement extracted from the passionflower plant, this tea has sleep-inducing properties that could improve your sleep-wake cycle.

how to get a good night's rest passionflower tea
how to get a good night's rest passionflower tea asiyamamria - Pixabay

How Passionflower Tea Works

According to the studies’ conclusions, passionflower tea works by increasing the gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, in the brain. The National Sleep Foundation revealed that GABA is a brain neurotransmitter that is responsible for slowing down your thought processes and making you feel drowsy.

A series of animal studies have proved the tea’s sleep-inducing properties. In one study involving mice, researchers concluded that such herbal remedy creates a positive impact on sleep patterns.

In another study, researchers found that passionflower extracts considerably increased the deep sleep cycle in mice and also reduced their rapid eye movement stage. The extract also helped the mice quickly fall asleep.

Slow-wave or deep sleep and REM sleep define the different phases of the sleep cycle. Slow-wave is the deepest phase of sleep, while REM is the phase when brain activity increases and can take you off the deep sleep phase.

In all of these studies, researchers conclude that passionflower tea has sleep-inducing and calming properties that could be used, not only to achieve deep sleep but also as an anxiety treatment. In a clinical trial, scientists found that passionflower minimized the anxiety levels of mice and also improved their memory. So the next time sleep eludes you, try drinking a cup of passionflower tea.