The Dalai Lama said “Sleep is the best meditation” and never a truer word was spoken. As I spent time researching and developing my new blended oil, REST,  designed to prepare you for sleep, I came across more and more scientific research on journeying to the Land of Nod.

We are regularly reminded by health practitioners to get 8 hours sleep. However, with life being so busy, there always seems to be obstacles to achieving that magic number. Work, study, family, fun times all seem to conspire at different stages in our lives to come between us and our pillows, sometimes literally.

Imagine a product that could help you prepare for those eight hours, that gets you in the mood for a nice, long relaxing sleep. Doesn’t that sound marvellous? When I began thinking about my new REST oil, I was thinking of all my family, friends, clients and customers lamenting the fact that they were having difficulty switching off, tuning out and dropping off. Knowing that Frankincense oil and Neroli oil contain powerful relaxing properties, I began my research into creating an oil that can become part of any bedtime routine, relaxing and winding down to sleep.

Improve your life

Research in recent years suggests that adequate sleep (which varies depending on age but is not less than eight hours regardless of age group) can improve your memory function, your motor skills, boost your immune system, aid longevity (1) and bizarrely, improve breakfast food choices among teenagers thus counteracting potential onset of diabetes and obesity. (2)

According to the scientific research benefits of sleeping the recommended length of time for your age group include:

1. Improved health: there are numerous studies that confirm the link between the optimal amount of sleep and conditions such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes. (3)
2. Improved weight control: this is partly due to psychological reasons. If you are too tired it’s easier to slide a pizza out of a packet than to spend time chopping vegetables for a nourishing soup. However it’s also physiological as a hormone called leptin plays a role in telling you when you are full. Leptin levels drop when you are tired meaning you’re more likely to feel hungry. (4)
3. We all know that short sleep can make us cranky (5) but research shows that adequate sleep can improve concentration and productivity in adults (6) and in children. (7) So if you sleep well not only will you stop snapping at your co-workers, you’ll get your work done in half the time!
4. Longer sleep will help you get achieve fitness goals: Longer sleeping has been linked to achieving athletic goals in a study of college basketball players (9) so get to bed early if you are trying for a personal best.
5. Stay healthy this winter by sleeping for eight hours a night. A 2015 study (9) found that adults with longer sleep were less likely to develop cold symptoms after infection.

Apart from the short and long term health benefits that can be gained from eight hours of sleep per night there are also mental and emotional benefits. Sleep before and after learning can greatly assist recall due to the role deep sleep plays in memory retention or what Matthew Walker, the Sleep Diplomat and author of “Why we Sleep” calls in this video presentation “the save button” . There are campaigns afoot to adjust school start times in order to make allowances for the specific sleep needs of teenagers with sleep experts calling for a complementary course of sleep education for parents, teachers and teenagers. How have we gone so wrong that we need to be taught how to sleep!

Sleep Nirvana

What can we do to reach this sleep nirvana? Over and over experts recommend routine, gentle activity that helps frame your mind for rest. This can include gentle mindfulness or yoga practice, a soothing blend of tea or incorporating FLORA + FIONA REST into your evening routine to help you prepare. Other tips (based on scientific research!) include:

1. Avoiding alcohol (10) and caffeine, (11) not just before bed, but altogether. Do I want to believe that?! 
2. Putting away that phone/ mobile device  (12) (you have our permission to stop reading right now if you are in bed!)
3. Getting some daylight during the day (13) but dim the lights at bedtime. (14)
4. Developing a routine which can include things as simple as brushing your teeth but try and keep to a schedule. Consider including a warm bath (15) with calming oils as part of that routine.(16)
5. Introducing some calming scents to the bedroom.(17) We love this one, of course!

Would you like to do everything you can to prepare for a restful night of sleep? Try some of those scientifically proven tips along with FLORA + FIONA REST and you will find yourself easing your mind and body onto the golden sands of sleep.

Try REST for yourself

My new product REST will help you to calm the mind and settle so you are more able to relax and sleep.

Just roll it on and breathe it in!

As an introduction to REST we 10% off all FLORA+ FIONA products until midnight November 26th 2017.  Shop online now using the promo code “rest10”

1. How Does Seven to Eight Hours of Sleep Affect Your Body? 
2. The Impact of Sleep Improvement on Food Choices in Adolescents With Late Bedtimes. 
3. Sleep duration predicts cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. 
4. Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. 
5. Cognitive flexibility across the sleep-wake cycle: REM-sleep enhancement of anagram problem solving.
6. Sleep and rest facilitate implicit memory in a visual search task. 
7. Cognitive benefits of last night’s sleep: daily variations in children’s sleep behavior are related to working memory fluctuations. 
8. The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players. 
9. Behaviorally Assessed Sleep and Susceptibility to the Common Cold. 
10. Sleep, Sleepiness, and Alcohol Use 
11. Caffeine intake (200 mg) in the morning affects human sleep and EEG power spectra at night 
12. Bright Screens Could Delay Bedtime 
13. Effect of Light on Human Circadian Physiology
14. Exposure to Room Light before Bedtime Suppresses Melatonin Onset and Shortens Melatonin Duration in Humans
15. Night-time sleep EEG changes following body heating in a warm bath
16. The effects of aromatherapy on sleep improvement: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.
17. An Olfactory Stimulus Modifies Nighttime Sleep in Young Men and Women