A guide to stressing less and sleeping better: our top tips
From expert aromatherapy blends to soothing herbal tea recipes, our Brand Ambassador Tipper shares her advice for building calming rituals into your day-to-day to help relieve stress and improve your sleep.
Many of us struggle with poor sleep due to daily stresses, repetitive thoughts and finding it difficult to switch off. Chronic stress can disrupt our natural circadian rhythm, increasing levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the evening and decreasing it in the morning, making it more difficult for us to wind down at night and wake up alert.
It can be challenging to cram sleep rituals and remedies into the final few hours of our evening, so why not switch things up by maintaining a sense of calm and relaxation throughout the day?
Here are some ideas for how you can bring natural remedies into your morning, afternoon and evening routine, bringing a sense of balance throughout the day and making it easier to wind down and drift off when evening comes.
1. PREPARING FOR A GREAT SLEEP STARTS IN THE MORNING
Start your day off on the right foot with an energising shower
For shower gel, fresh, zingy aromas like Geranium & Orange or Citrus can uplift both mind and mood, infusing the bathroom with a positive atmosphere.
Need a caffeine fix to perk you up first thing?
Let’s be honest – many of us look forward to our morning coffee to get us going. Ultimately, however, coffee may not be the most helpful choice to sustain levels of energy throughout the day. Substituting with herbal tea can support a calm, clear mind, without any of those feelings of jitteriness.
There are so many choices when it comes to herbal tea. You can even blend your own - try an uplifting and refreshing peppermint and lemon verbena, or a soothing floral infusion of chamomile , lavender , pink rose buds and lemon balm . You can even add 4 drops of your favourite flower remedy to really layer up those feelings of calm – SOS is perfect for if the day is filling you with trepidation or Unwind if you know it’s hard to switch off once the day is done.
Breakfast
Breakfast is a great time to take supplements, as they work better with food. Our Vitamin B Supplement is great when life is full of pressure, helping to clear and focus the mind, as well as supporting the nervous system and reducing feelings of fatigue.
What about breakfast when you’re up and out the door?
Smoothies are my answer, prepped the night before ready to grab from the fridge. A base of organic oats, banana, chia seeds, raw cacao, hemp seeds and our Organic Beauty Oil helps keep me energised when I’m on the go. For an extra nutrition boost, add adaptogenic ashwagandha powder and a sprinkle of super-nutritious bee pollen.
While you are out and about for the rest of the day
If tea sounds too much like hard work when you’re out and about, choose one of our herbal tinctures to address specific wellbeing concerns. Echinacea helps support the body’s natural defences, while our purifying Mahonia Skin Formula promotes beautiful skin from within. Add up to a teaspoon of your chosen tincture to your water bottle, repeating in the afternoon.
2. KEEP ENERGY LEVELS BALANCED THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON
If you work from home...
Add the essential oils of your choice to a diffuser to help uplift your mood throughout the day. You can blend individual oils or choose from our ready-to-use blends: Focus if concentration is proving a struggle, De-stress for a jam-packed schedule or Optimism to counteract the Monday blues.
If you can’t use a diffuser...
Pop a Remedy to Roll in your bag, and smooth onto pulse points whenever you need to stop and take a calming moment for yourself.
Don’t neglect your lunch break
It’s a great time to leave your desk and get out of the office. Is it time to catch up with a work friend? Why not make a flask of tea, pop in a flower remedy and head for a park bench? Alternatively, head for a brisk walk, which will help to burn off the stress hormones that have built up throughout the day.
3. WINDING DOWN FOR THE EVENING
To help release the stress of the day as you arrive home...
Enjoy a herbal tea, maybe adding Letting Go or Unwind Flower Remedy to your cup. As you begin the winding down process, try changing up your diffuser with our Meditation , Calming or Night Time Aromatherapy Blends, or create your own relaxing evening blend.
Create an evening body care ritual to help calm and soothe
A warm, relaxing bath helps the body cool down naturally before bed, as the drop in temperature will let the body know it’s time for sleep.
For an aromatherapeutic bubble-boost, choose from herbaceous Aromatic , floral Beauty Sleep , harmonising Women’s Balance , or our calming classic, English Lavender Foaming Bath. Next, follow up with a body butter or lotion of your choice to nourish and soften with skin-conditioning oils.
Before bedding down for the night
Why not enjoy a calming night time drink such as our Night Time Tea with valerian and lavender.
Alternatively, you could try making a delicious warm herbal milk; my favourite recipe blends Ashwagandha , valerian , chamomile and rose . To make, simply blend equal parts in a clean dry jar, using 1-2 teaspoons of the blend per person. Gently infuse the herbs in your choice of milk for 5-10 minutes, covered if possible, then add a dash of maple syrup. Strain and enjoy your blissful bed-time blend.
Lastly, spritz your pillows with our award-winning Goodnight Pillow Mist
Made with a tranquil blend of lavender, vetiver and mandarin essential oils, it’s clinically proven to improve sleep from the first night.* Let the soothing aromas help you drift off into a restful slumber, and wake up refreshed.
*Based on a consumer trial with 100 participants.
