The Essential Oil Company : Sleep

The Essential Oil Company - Health, Beauty & Lifestyle Gifts

The Essential Oil Company : Sleep - Tips for Improving the Quality & Depth

The Essential Oil Company

Sleep is an important part of our life, let's face it - some of you who are lucky enough to fall asleep and stay asleep can spend up to 8 hours of your day in bed! (or longer....)

Deep restorative sleep is required to help the body deal with stress, disease and mental and emotional well-being. If we become sleep-deprived all sorts of issues can begin to manifest most commonly and initially - plain old grouchiness - which is not great for relationships. Prolonged sleep issues can trigger chronic dis-ease within the body, upset the body clock, hormonal system and a myriad of symptoms can arise. The aches, pains and chronic fatigue felt by those with fibromyalgia for instance, can be induced by lack of sleep.

Just as there are many symptoms that can develop through poor sleep, there are many causes both physiological and psychological (ever noticed how you could sleep in on a Monday morning til Midday if you didn't go to work but come Saturday with no work - you are up with the larks?). Sometimes just small lifestyle changes can enhance your sleep quality.

Breakthrough for Sleep Problems? Leading nutritionists are hailing Asphalia as the biggest breakthrough in sleep improvement for decades. Asphalia Sleep Remedy is an original high anti-oxidant formula, originally developed by Coghill Research Laboratories as a completely natural radioprotective against electromagnetic fields and radiations (EMFs) such as those from cell phones, power lines and masts, and five times as powerful as Vitamin C, they discovered lots of other benefits including:-

Anti-Ageing
Sleep Improvement
Improved Complexion
Immune Protection

Asphalia is produced in a Welsh valley from entirely natural plant materials chosen for their high antioxidant profile - and is naturally high in melatonin, Asphalia is apparently more easily absorbed than 5-htp and therefore more effective in enhancing sleep.

So here are some other top tips to help you get a great night's sleep.

For Busy Minds, Workaholics & Stress-heads (Evening Activities)

We are finding that lots of people are getting a brilliant night's sleep when combining Epsom salts (by bathing) with Asphalia - it seems to be a fantastic combination, even for the worst insomniacs!

Stop doing any work, playing on computer, (even “facebooking”) at least 3 hours before bedtime. computer lights can affect your ability to nod off and not switching off from work can get your mind racing - excess adrenaline from a busy day can also keep you awake so try to wind down or do something completely different.

Have a notepad by your bed but a couple of hours prior to bedtime, write down your to-do list for the next day. If thoughts start cropping up as you try to sleep just put them on the notepad - then you can sleep peacefully knowing you will not forget.
Have a long, hot soak with a fragrant bubble bath or add a few drops of essential oil such as lavender to a spoon of full fat milk (acts as an emulsifier) and disperse in the bath just before you get in. Breathe in the lovely relaxing aroma. Have a candle lit to create a calming ambience, some chill-out music (listening to Mozart is suppose to be good for the brain!) and turn off your phone!

Bathing in Epsom salts is also a fantastic way to calm the mind and soothe the body. Epsom salts are wonderfully relaxing, the magnesium sulphate in Epsom salts has a soothing effect on the nervous system and help to boost the body's level of serotonin which gives a feeling of well-being and can help you get a good night's sleep. Also soothes aches & pains. An age-old remedy that still works brilliantly today!

Put an oil burner with lavender oil (4 drops) in the room you are in 2 hours before bedtime. Just before bedtime top up the burner with another 4 drops of pure essential oil of lavender and put it in your bedroom. You can also add a few drops to your pillow. If you really don't like the smell of lavender, basil sweet is also a great oil for clearing busy minds (the aroma is reminiscent of aniseed). Other oils that can be used are chamomile roman (good for babies too), petitgrain or neroli (orange blossom), jasmine, valerian. Follow any safety instructions given with your burner and keep out of reach of children. Tisserand have brought out a new 100% pure essential oil blend for vaporising called Sleep Tight and combines soothing lavender, petitgrain, orange blossom and chamomile to promote a good night's sleep. It smells divine!

Badger sleep balm is a great sleep enhancer that helps you to clear your mind and fall asleep - just rub the organic beeswax essential oil blend around your temples & forehead and you can also massage into the soles of your feet.

Keep your window open slightly - to ensure fresh air all night (make sure you are not sleeping under a draught).

If the central heating is on then put a bowl of steaming water (you can add oils to this if you don't have a burner) in your room, this will help humidify your room, or simply add the drops to your radiator humidifier if you have one.

Switch off mobiles phones (and don't have them under your pillow!), computer equipment, tv's and wireless routers - anything that emits energy especially the mobile phones and routers. The waves and signals can interfere with your own brain waves preventing you from nodding off (let alone the long term effects of sleeping in “wave” pollution) . Asphalia can help to protect you from EMFs as well as giving you a better night's sleep.

If you suffer from hot flushes or night sweats then the Chillow personal cooling pad can be a real blessing and transform your sleep life. Requiring activation ONCE by filling with water and you simply slip it under your pillow - the patented technology of the chillow means that it keeps cool and stops the need for "pillow turning"

Meditation. Sitting still and focusing on your breathing can really help reduce stress levels. Just breathe in deeply in and out through your nose - being conscious of slowing down your breathing. Focus on the word “Shalom” meaning peace – this simple exercise can have a profound affect on all levels of well-being. If other thoughts pop up just observe and gently focus back on your breath and peace. You can do this anytime of day when you are feeling stressed or fatigued, it’s a great way to pep yourself up! You can adapt to your own belief’s - as a Christian, I often breathe in “Jesus” and breathe out “Shalom”

If stress is one of the reasons you can't sleep read a book! Recent research by University of Sussex has shown that reading for even just 6 minutes can reduce stress levels by two thirds, by slowing heart rate and easing tension in the muscles.

Use a sleep mask and it may be worth investing in black-out blinds as some studies suggest that unless the room is pitch black, your sleep may not be as refreshing as it could be.

If the cause is a snoring partner try the amazing cure sore. One of the major causes of snoring is loose tissue in the throat. The sagging tissues narrow your airway
and cause the tissue to vibrate while you breathe. Cure Snore helps this tissue to fill with blood and this stops the tissue sagging.

Day time activities

There are also things you do during the day which will help re-set your body clock so you feel awake during daylight and sleepy during night time.

Go outside for about 20 minutes a day preferably mornings or lunchtime. If it’s sunny - expose as much of your body as possible to the warming & vitamin D providing rays. Do not use chemical sunscreens, these react with the heat and can become carcinogenic which can cause skin cancer.

If you can't get into the sunshine invest in a lightbox - the litebook elite is a very compact lightbook which can sit on your desk (I use one every morning whilst checking emails – it fits easily on top the phone or desk). These tiny powerful gizmo's can really help and have been proven to reduce winter blues, depression and other disorders. They are also great for those travelling through time zones to help normalise the body from jet lag and also for shift workers too.

Get some exercise - a brisk walk, a game of squash or something else energetic can help burn off excess adrenaline and cortisol (which are released under stress) and help to relax the body, lower blood pressure and can also release feel-good endorphins. I usually feel much better after a “jogette” walk a lot, sprint a bit, walk a lot more……..

Invest in a good mattress – memory foam is super comfortable and is especially helpful if you suffer from arthritis.

Dietary Tips

Some foods you can eat before bedtime or in the evening that contain natural ingredients which can help. These include turkey, figs, yoghurts and ovaltine is a good malt drink which doesn't contain any nasty hydrogenated oils, although it has got some sugar in it. Drink lots of water and keep a glass by your bedside. Many people don’t realise they are suffering from chronic de-hydration which also can cause many problems in the body including angina and high blood pressure. We also recommend virgin coconut oil for many ailments and most people report higher energy levels and some even claim their sleep is better too.

Taking magnesium supplements can help too – but that can come in many forms so find the best bio-available type. Magnesium really helps with anxiety and pre-menstrual tension too.

Some things to avoid - aspartame - this is a sweetener used in thousands of products - generally those that are not heated as it’s unstable above a certain temperature. This is in many: most squashes, cordials, soft drinks, all diet drinks, yoghurts (even the healthy ones!)...... and in fruit shoots, most children’s drinks (it causes holes in the brains of infant mice and can cause brain lesions in children - often symptoms of which are ADDH, behavioural and emotional problems). Brain lesions are not conducive to a good nights sleep, aspartame is also a neuro-toxin, poisoning your nervous system isn’t going to help much either! For more information go to www.eoco.org.uk/aspartame.shtml - and check your labels!

Avoid too much alcohol. Also avoid caffeine 5 hours prior to bedtime, drink redbush (rooibos) tea or other caffeine free drinks such as dandelion coffee or herbal teas. Some research has shown that even one cup of coffee a day even taken in the morning, can interfere with sleep patterns. Decaf also still contains caffeine plus some processes use chemicals to extract the caffeine which leaves behind a residue.

If you have fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome or other hormonal imbalances, it’s likely your serotonin levels are low. In which case 5-htp* can really help. 5-htp helps you to sleep more deeply and for longer, which helps you to feel more refreshed in the mornings. There are many brands of 5-htp on the market but the best I have tried so far is "Now 5-htp" 100mg vegecaps sold by www.foryourhealth.co.uk it is also the best priced too! You can take it over a prolonged period or some experts just recommend taking it for a month to get your body used to good sleep again. Melatonin levels are also low so you could try the new Asphalia Sleep Remedy, personally I find this is a better sleep enhancer than 5-htp - which is also effective. See what works for you.....

If your problem is chronic, also telling yourself you can survive on just 3 hours (or whatever you are getting) can take away much of the frustration of not being able to drift off. There are other factors that can affect your sleep, we have just covered a few things in this tip sheet - but the good news is there is something that can be done which changes to diet, lifestyle and your environment.

If you have faith – don’t forget the power of prayer and finally "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:26). Try and make-up or reconcile differences before bedtime - there is nothing worse than tossing and turning all night if you are angry at your partner and have not resolved the issues, losing sleep over it will just make you more angry and irritable !

Bon Nuit!

Sue Foley,

Qualified aromatherapist