Balancing the demands of a busy lifestyle in today’s hectic, fast paced world can sometimes feel overwhelming, leaving little time for self-care. We seek new solutions to enhance our wellbeing, to allow ourselves to do more and feel better. We look to eat the right foods, exercise our body and mind, yet we often forget about the one tool we rely on every day: Sleep. There are many factors that contribute to a restful night’s sleep, so the aromatherapy experts at Scentered have put together the ultimate bedtime routine to help you wake feeling well rested.
Create a Sleep Space
Look around your bedroom and ask yourself whether you feel relaxed in this space. Are your blinds letting too much light in at night? Is the room stuffy or well ventilated? Would you sleep better with white noise, or less noise? Assessing these factors before you get into bed start you off on the right foot. Lighting our Scentered Sleep Well Therapy Candle an hour before bed will make the space feel as calming and relaxing as possible thanks to the essential oils of lavender, chamomile and palmarosa.
Reduce Screen Time
We all know the negative effect blue light and overstimulation from our phones and devices can have on our sleep quality. Try leaving your phone outside the bedroom and have a technology-free hour before bed. Replace this screen-time with reading or practicing some light yoga.
Use Aromatherapy to Associate Sleep with Scents
Once you’ve entered your technology-free hour before bedtime, apply our Sleep Well Therapy Balm to your pulse points. When we smell something, it triggers our olfactory nerve and sends a signal to our limbic system and the amygdala, the part of our brain that controls mood and memory. Certain associated smells can instantly impact mood and using this routine regularly will help associate the soothing scent of palmarosa, ylang ylang and lavender with sleep.
Breathe
Release tension and anxiety with deep and conscious breathing coupled with aromatherapy. Our Stop, Inhale and Reset technique is a great tool to use during the day too when you need a few moments to collect yourself.
1. STOP - Apply Scentered’s Sleep Well Balm onto your wrists, neck and temples
2. INHALE - Place your hands on your abdomen. Deeply inhale the therapeutic natural aromas.
Breath 1: Place your hands on your chest, fingertips touching and breathe into them. Feel your fingers part at the deepest part of the breath, exhale mindfully.
Breath 2: Move your hands to your tummy, breathe consciously and deeply fill your lungs, feeling movement beneath your hands.
Breath 3, place your hands onto the lower abdomen and inhale deeply into the whole body, pause, hold your breath here, then exhale as slowly and mindfully as you can.
3. RESET - Observe your calm breathing and relaxed body and mind.
Consider What You Drink
It might seem obvious, but here’s a friendly reminder: Cut the caffeine. Drinking too much caffeine throughout the day or too close to bedtime will have a negative impact on your sleep routine. Replace with herbal teas or water, especially in the afternoon.
Don't Hit Snooze
The average person completes five 90-minute sleep cycles per night and ideally, we wake up between these cycles, not in the middle of one. Being jolted aware by an alarm clock in the middle of REM (rapid eye movement, i.e. deep sleep) sleep cycle can leave you feeling sluggish but even if you're feeling tired, it's important not to hit the snooze button as this begins a new sleep cycle that will inevitably be broken when your alarm goes off again in ten minutes.
from Planet Organic Blog http://bit.ly/2IN2EIc
via How to Save Money When Buying Organic Foods
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