We all know the feeling of not having had a good night’s sleep. Perhaps you were restless, worried, up with a sick child or simply having a good time out. But now you have to wake up and rush to work on just a few hours of sleep. This was certainly the case in my early twenties and I must say I did it quite well partying till the wee hours of the morning heading back home for a shower and two hours of sleep or none at all before I headed out again to start another day.
But research shows that poor sleep has immediate negative effects on your hormones, exercise performance and brain function, but of course, we all know this! While functioning on very little sleep was easier in my youth it has certainly become almost impossible as I have grown older.
Plus we all know not enough sleep leads to a dysfunctional day which includes short tempers, and a cotton wool brain which can have a negative impact on our relationships or even be dangerous to ourselves and others if we are driving or operating machinery on a tired brain.
However, it isn’t just poor brain function and irritability that can result from a lack of sleep. Did you know that it can also cause weight gain and increase disease risk in both adults and children? In contrast, good sleep can help you eat less, exercise better and be healthier, and also give improved brain function and relationships. Sadly modern living has had a negative impact on both sleep quality and quantity. In fact, many people have developed poor sleeping habits and regularly operate on too little sleep because of modern lifestyle habits. Modern technology has brought a new kind of pressure into our lives, no longer do we have to wait for the post or snail mail as it’s now known because we have email, WhatsApp or text messages. All making us feel like we must respond immediately. We stare at our PC, phones and other gadgets for hours and these all emit blue light.
Blue light messes with the body’s ability to prepare for sleep because it blocks a hormone called melatonin that makes you sleepy. Bottom line: You’re less drowsy than usual at night, and it takes you longer to fall asleep. if you want to optimise your health or lose weight, or feel less anxious and pressured, then getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important things you can do.
Here are a few tips on how you can achieve this.
Increase exposure to bright / sunlight during the day.
Your body has a natural time-keeping clock known as your circadian rhythm which influences your brain, other organs and hormonal system, helping you stay awake and telling your body when it’s time to sleep. Natural sunlight and/or bright light during the day helps keep your circadian rhythm healthy and enables serotonin to be produced by the body. Serotonin is associated with boosting the mood and helping a person feel calm and focused. At night, darker lighting triggers the brain to release melatonin. This hormone is responsible for helping us to sleep. Giving the body plenty of light will improve daytime energy, as well as a better quality of sleep at night.
If you suffer from insomnia try Ylang ylang essential oil in addition to daylight exposure, to help improve sleep quality and duration. It can also reduce the time it takes to fall asleep. If sunlight exposure is not practical, investing in daylight bulbs for your home can help.
Limiting blue light exposure in the evening.
Limit the usage of your smartphone and other gadgets that emit blue lights in the evening as these mess with your body’s natural cycle and also reduce melatonin, tricking the body into thinking it’s still daytime. Switch off your devices at night, and never have them in your bedroom. If you have a TV or landline phone in the room, switch it off at the wall so there are no other distracting lights near you while you sleep.
Bergamot essential oil is cleansing and can reduce toxicity in the body, but it is also known to help balance your circadian rhythm.
Don’t have caffeine in the evenings.
Drinking coffee or caffeine based products in the evening stimulates your nervous system and increases your heart rate, which may prevent your body from naturally relaxing at night. Research has found that drinking coffee up to six hours before bed significantly worsened sleep quality, because this is how long the caffeine will stay in your body.
Don’t overindulge in alcohol!
Drinking alcohol at night can negatively affect your sleep and hormones (decreasing your melatonin levels). It can also increase snoring and disrupt your sleep pattern as your liver tries to cleanse overnight, giving hot sweats.
Make your bedroom a calm, relaxing haven.
A messy and cluttered bedroom will produce a messy and cluttered mind. Make sure your bedroom is as clean and tidy as it can be, at an ambient temperature (not too hot), and your bed is properly made. Take care to make the bedroom as dark as possible and as noise-proof as possible. I live close to a busy room and find it useful to use earplugs and always run my diffuser 30miniutes before bed with an essential oil such as lavender angustifolia to aid sleep and relaxation. If you have streetlamps that light up your bedroom consider black-out blinds.
Have a bath or shower.
A relaxing bath or shower is a great way to prepare your mind and body for a good nights sleep.
Try running a bath with a few drops of lavender, ylang ylang or bergamot to help you start relaxing. If you opt for a shower simply add a few drops of one of these oils to the shower floor and let the hot water and steam create a relaxing aromatherapy steam treatment for you.
De-clutter your mind.
Meditation, visualisation and relaxation techniques before going to bed can calm the mind and body and prepare the body for sleep. This will also still the mind of the day’s worries and anxieties, leading to a better night’s sleep. Keep a note pad and pen next to your bed so you can write down any tasks you need to remember the next day. This will help to clear the mind and help you relax.
Regular exercise.
Exercise is one of the best science-backed ways to improve your sleep and health (not of course just before bed). Exercise does not mean punishing your body by hard regimes, it simply means to use your muscles in your everyday life as they were always meant to be used. Exercise releases good hormones such as endorphins and adrenaline, which during the day is a great thing, as once these have worn off, sleep comes more naturally. Just 20 miniutes of exercise each day can be very beneficial to our health and aid sleep.
Essential oils to aid sleep
Essential oils have been used for centuries to promote relaxation and mental and physical wellness. Today, these same oils are increasingly being studied by scientists in search of a more rigorous, specific understanding of their benefits for our health. Essential oils are fairly inexpensive and easy to introduce to a routine and there is a large variety of essential oils to choose from which can help you relax, mentally and physically. It is important to always check the label on your bottle for the latin name of your oil to ensure you have the right variety.
Here are some of the essential oils with their Latin names in brackets which I recommend and use myself to help improve sleep, relieve stress, lift mood, and boost performance.
Lavender / True Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is best known for its sleep inducing and stress-relieving properties. Studies using lavender oil as a sleep aid show great improvement in sleep and also fewer trips to the loo during the night (Azri et al 2010).
Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) has a beautifully citrus aroma that is both soft and uplifting. A study using Bergamot essential oil with lavandin and ylang ylang showed it produced deep sleep with reduced trips to the toilet (Arzi et al 2010).
Ylang ylang (Cananga odorata) distilled from the beautiful creamy-yellow blossoms. The distillation can take some time, and you do need to take care to buy the complete distillation rather than just a nice part of it! Our Ylang Ylang is distilled in Madagascar for a full 24 hours to obtain what is known as Ylang Ylang Complete. Traditionally used as an aphrodisiac, as an anti-anxiety medication, as a sedative and also as a relaxant. Today it is used to increase self-confidence, reduce stress and anxiety and help with hyperactivity and decreased sex drive.
Studies have reported that inhaling essential oils had a positive effect on reducing anxiety and increasing quality of sleep. The inhalation method was to blend lavender, ylang-ylang, and bergamot once daily for four weeks. This was found to lead to reduced blood pressure, pulse, subjective stress, and state anxiety levels of clients with hypertension, as well as reducing nocturnal urination, compared to the placebo and control group, which led to deeper and more satisfying sleep (Hwang, 2006).
Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) is a great multitasking oil with a wide range of healing benefits. It is anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, sedative, anxiety-reducing, and muscle-relaxing (Sulong, 2006). Often used in skincare as it is adaptogenic – this means that the oil adapts to the type of skin it is applied to, so it can help balance dry, oily, combination, troubled, acne type skins equally well.It is reported to be one of the most effective essential oils for reducing menstrual-related anxiety and, most importantly, disturbed sleep from hot sweats, cramps and bad dreams (Kim, 2011). Apart from its pleasantly sweet and floral aroma, geranium essential oil is excellent as an aid to help ease stress and insomnia.
