I have always been a terrible sleeper. For most of my life I have had issues with getting a good night’s kip – I will either fall asleep with ease at 10pm but then sit bolt upright at 3am and not be able to get back to sleep until 6.15, only to be rudely awakened by my alarm at 7am OR I will toss and turn til 2am when I fall finally into slumber, crying when I have to crawl out of bed four hours later.
I have spent THOUSANDS of dollars on sleeping pills, melatonin, meditation apps, earplugs, pillow sprays, tinctures and teas in my efforts to sleep through the night. Some things work for a while, some not at all.
If you’re an insomniac, or someone who just has trouble with sleep, then you may know what I’m saying, if – that is – you can even lift your weary head up from your phone. How to get to sleep is all I think about from the moment I get home from work. Add menopause into the mix and I may as well just get a night shift for some extra cash, given all the rejuvenating shut eye I get most days.
I started my wellness journey (or indeed my “Elleness” journey) with WelleCo’s Evening Elixir. I mean, WelleCo is Aussie legend Elle Macpherson’s ingestible wellness brand, and if it’s good enough for a 60-year-old supermodel it’s surely good enough for me, hey?
Launched earlier this year, The Evening Elixr is a hot chocolate powder with a difference – it’s a 13-calorie choccie treat made with 100% certified organic, fairly traded cocoa beans which includes a whoppingly relaxing 47% of the Australian daily recommendation of magnesium in every serve.
The dreamy chocolate drink can be mixed with water or milk – my tip is add milk as it makes it creamier – for an evening drink that will calm you down and prepare you for (hopeful) slumber AND is supposed to help you wake up with glowing skin thanks to its mix of collagen-boosting ingredients.
It’s totally delicious and I do believe it relaxes you, giving you that cosy feeling you only get from sipping warm chocolatey goodness. But I needed more.
Which is why I was happy to try out WelleCo’s Sleep Welle Calming Tea.
“I wind down by making myself a cup of WelleCo’s Sleep Welle Calming Tea to relax and quiet my mind before bed,” says Elle on the WelleCo website. “I end my day with deep breathing techniques and writing a gratitude list – it helps set my subconscious to rest, restore and revive while my mind and body is asleep.”
The tea – drumroll please – helped me sleep.
To be honest, it smells a bit weird when you open the bag, and I wasn’t sure I was going to like it – I’m told it’s the valerian that is the issue. Add hot water to it though and the smell subsides and the mix of ingredients that includes passionflower, skullcap, valerian, hops, lemon balm, mango and lemon flavours combine for a fruity cuppa I really liked the taste of. Two bags later and I am ready for bed. I SLEPT LIKE A BABY. And I did so for two out of the three nights I drank it.
I must say here that while I did indeed sleep like a baby and can highly recommend it, I also had amazingly vivid dreams, which they say is also that valerian root at work. I don’t mind a weird dream or two, and I definitely prefer them over no sleep – but they were definitely in the “what the…?” camp! Reading through the reviews there were only a few mentions of dreams, so maybe I’m super sensitive.
If I were Elle I’d drink it from an earthenware bowl as I wrote in my gratitude journal – but I’m not, so I had it in a mug in front of Below Deck, but you know, each to their own.
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