How to have the best sleep
“a good sleep is the best meditation” - Dalai Lama
May sees the arrival of Now Mow May when we leave the lawn to gentle grow to support all the insects, bees, butterflies to feed, lay eggs. Its the start of the relaxed season, when its best to kick off your shoes and walk barefoot across your grass, this is called grounding and is very beneficial for our soul.
May also sees the arrival of our Sleep Balm. We are very excited to introduce this wonderfully restful balm, made with organic butters, oils, waxes and essential oils of petitgrain, ginger, lavender and eucalyptus. If you struggle to sleep, this Sleep Balm will help quieten your mind, open your airways and relax your muscles. Highly nutritious and moisturising for the skin, you can massage it into your skin safe in the knowledge that every ingredient is gentle, therapeutic and hydrating.
Ingredients:
organic rosehip butter - rich in vitamin A to help combat ageing and helps your skin to regenerate, promotes collagen and elastic production
organic illipe butter - due to its high fatty acid content, illipe butter helps to soothe dry itchy skin and improve texture
organic apricot kernel oil - rich in vitamin A and E, this oil helps to protect your skin due to its antioxidants. It nourishes and helps to repair skin damage
berry wax - provides an emollient barrier for your skin to protect against damage
organic essential oils of petitgrain, ginger, eucalyptus and lavender. They all help to calm your thoughts, help you breathe and to soothe digestive issues, allowing you to drift off to sleep
all the ingredients in the Sleep Balm are non comedogenic, this means the Sleep Balm will not block your pores and will be absorbed by your skin easily without leaving a sticky oily residue
Allow the sleep inducing scent of petitgrain, ginger, lavender and eucalyptus help to drift off to sleep
Follow our tips for better sleep
We all have a circadian rhythm, this is our internal body clock and is governed by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is found in the hypothalamus in the brain. The SCN reacts to light, therefore it is essential to a have a good sleep/wake cycle to keep the SCN functioning properly so that you sleep well. Ensure your bedroom in dark and keep to the same bedtime hour if possible.
Many people believe that our evening meal should be light, to help with indigestion, this is tricky if you have been at work during the day but ensure that you leave at least 3 hours before bed to allow your digestive system to digest the meal. Have a glass of water afterwards to flush the food through. By raising the bed frame, this will help with acid reflux, we have added ginger to the sleep blend to further help soothe your digestion.
If you struggle with a blocked nose when you lie down, try placing a old book or piece of wood under the bed frame at your head end, this will ensure that your sleeping position remains the same but you are slightly on an incline. We have included eucalyptus in the sleep blend to help keep your airways open. You could use the sleep balm on your chest or put 2 drops of our help me, it’s way past my bedtime oil blend on our aromastones, the oils will diffuse during the night.
stress is a huge factor that can cause you to struggle to drift off, the constant thoughts and worries, by practising mindfulness meditation as part of your bedtime routine is very beneficial. We have added essential oils of petitgrain and lavender to further help quieten your thoughts.
if you have been sat at your desk or not really moved enough during the day, your energy levels will be too high to allow you to sleep well, try and go for a stroll before bedtime. This helps to reduce the levels of cortisol, this is the hormone that gives you energy. Why not make the evening walk a mindful one when you notice everything around you.
hormones are a major factor in our sleep/wake cycle, hormones affect the circadian rhythm by reducing the levels of melatonin. This naturally reduces as we age but menopause can interfere further with the levels, add to this twitchy restless legs and hot flushes and you can understand why hormones play a huge part with sleep.
ensure your bedroom is dark, light affects your circadian bodyclock, this also includes screentime too so include switching off phones, computers and TVs an hour before bed, instead read a book.
Enjoy the scents of the seasons with this gift set
Springtime
I love everything about spring, the return of the light, the fresh green plant growth and the scent of this most optimistic season. I am very lucky to have a garden rich in birdlife and insects, I have been an organic, non dig gardener for over 30 years and my garden is alive! I never tidy up twigs, moss etc until at least August to allow the birds and bees to create their homes for the babies, I know that some would consider my garden slightly overgrown but its not really, its just for nature. It is full of nectar rich flowers, a pond for tadpoles, newts and other pond loving insects, many trees that are coming into blossom and hedges. We need to garden for nature, not be too tidy and never ever use pesticides, this kills the foodchain and how sad will it be if there are no fluffy chicks, fresh butterflies and humming busy bees so, this May sit back and do nothing. Well actually you can sow your vegetable seeds and get growing your own food, organically of course. I fill my freezer with chard, onions, kale and many other berries, herbs and vegetables, being a vegetarian I eat alot of veggies, but i also love the fact that I know how they ve been grown and the vitamin content is much higher freshly frozen!
As i have said before, May is No Mow May, I also do Let It Bloom June and Thigh High in July, my lawn is mowed in August ready for the autumn and all grass cuttings are used as mulch. Have you heard of a Dead Wall? This is a wonderful way to use twigs etc and my dead Wall looks fabulous and I know its full of insects which provide food for the birds and hedgehogs too.
So, finally, Spring and Summer are seasons to loosen your shoulders, absorb vitamin D and relax.
“Dear Mind, stop thinking so much at night, i need sleep”
