I am absolutely positive that I don’t get enough sleep. Between kids, writing articles, keeping up the house, running errands and everything else that’s on my daily to-do list, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day. And on top of that I have the worst time getting my brain to turn off long enough to actually fall asleep.

I’ve always been like that though. I’ve never been a great sleeper. Some people, my husband included, can lay their head on the pillow and is out cold. I wish I were like that. It would have made that first year with a newborn a lot easier.

I’ve tried prescriptions like Ambien, I wasn’t too thrill with the side effects on that one. I’ve tried things like Tylenol PM, and I wake up in a fog and have to force my eyelids to stay open. Basically I wasn’t happy with any of those choices.

One night I was flipping through the channels trying to find something numbingly boring to help me fall asleep when I saw a commercial for Van Winkle’s 40 Winks Tea. I said huh that sounds interesting, and continued channel surfing. Then I saw the commercial again a few nights later and actually went and looked at their site. They have 3 herbal teas that have natural sleep aids added to them. I couldn’t decide which flavor to get so I ordered their One of Each combo, which actually got me a discount.

My order showed up a couple days later and I was instantly impressed. The artwork on the can is really pretty. And you get a lot of tea; the can is almost 6 inches tall. I tried my first tea that night, the Mystical Mint flavor. I got the kids to bed, ran a load of laundry, and brewed a cup. First of all it smelled so good. Like I was walking in a garden of mint. I know, that’s a really cheesy simile, but it really did smell that good.

Anyway, I drank a cup, and fell asleep quickly. It was like heaven! I slept all night and woke up refreshed and ready to start the day. Perfect!

The next night I tried the Chocolate Chai. Again it smelled heavenly, tasted great, and I had another great night of sleep. I finally tried the Cinnamon Apricot, which was just as good too, I felt like I was having dessert. Another hit.

I tried going a few nights without it when I knew I was really tired and would sleep fine, so I know it’s not habit forming, which was a major part of my problem taking pills. I never felt like I would get a good night sleep unless I took one. Not with the tea though, which is exactly what I needed.

So when my 3 cans run out, I’ll definitely be buying more, and I’ve been telling all my friends about it too. You can order the tea at www.40winkstea.com. They also have some great sleep tips on the site that really helped me. I definitely admit to watching TV late at night and I’ve on occasion had a coffee on my way home from work to make sure that I make it to bedtime. Sleeping without the TV on really did help and when I cut out caffeine after 5 pm I really started sleeping better. I didn’t even feel like I needed that afternoon pick me up of coffee when I was actually sleeping. It all felt like simple things, just simple things I hadn’t really thought about before. But now I’m sleeping so much better, I can’t thank Van Winkle’s enough.