Good Night, Sleep Tight: Top Tips For A Blissful Nights Sleep

There’s nothing worse than tossing and turning through the night and it always seems to happen when there’s something important happening the next day, doesn’t it?

Lavender:

Lavender has been used for hundreds of years to help aid sleep, it increases slow wave sleep and relaxes the body and muscles. Personally I love the real deal, lavender harvest is in July but there are lots of lavender farms about that sell dried bunches of lavender throughout the year. Put some lavender buds inside a small cotton bag and place it between your pillow and pillowcase, it’ll help you sleep throughout the night.

Bed Cleanse:

This is not only great for helping you sleep but expelling nasty bacteria from your mattress.

What You’ll Need:

• A large sieve.
• 1 cup of Baking Soda
• 15-20 drop of the best lavender oil you can find
• 1 jam jar and lid
• Vacuum cleaner

Place the baking soda in the jam jar and add the lavender oil, put the lid on and give it a shake.

Strip the bed and pour the baking soda into the sieve and shake it out all over your mattress, leave it for a good 40 minutes to an hour and then vacuum it off, it’ll be great next time you clean your floors too, the house will smell like lavender because it’ll act like a drop ‘n’ vac. Remake your bed with nice fresh bed linen, your lavender sachet under your pillow and you’ll sleep like a baby.

Hot To Cold

A couple of years ago there was an extensive study on sleep and the most powerful one was the effect of going from very hot to very cold temperatures. Fill a hot water bottle with ice cubes and cold water and put it in your bed, go take a nice long HOT shower and then get into a cold bed, the sudden temperature drop has a strong effect on the body, sort of acting like a roofie and aids a deep sleep.

White Noise

I’ve been in love with white noise machines since I first saw them in a Sharper Image store in New York back in the 90’s. Back then they were expensive and built into alarm clocks… Now they come in apps! Basically they tune out any background noise and help clear the mind.  My hubby has Tinnitus and during bad bouts of it, the sleep machine is great, you can go asleep listening to rain falling in a rainforest, thunder storms, whale songs or fans. The app I have is Sleep Machine lite from the Apple Store.

Oil It Up

I have just mentioned lavender as a sleep aid but also bergamot and verbena work too, make a sleep spray by adding a few drops to water in a spray bottle, you can get them in pharmacies in travel kits or repurpose an old one and tie a pretty ribbon around the top of it and keep it in your room. 10-15 drops per 100mls should do, just give them a good shake before you spray them and apply to pyjamas, towels and on your bedlinen.

Irish organic seaweed company VOYA  make a gorgeous body oil called ‘Mindful Moments’ made with beautiful lavender oil and no nasty ingredients, it’s got a gorgeous aroma. I like to apply it after a hot shower when my pores are open and it sinks right in.

Time for a cuppa?

Make time for a quiet cup of tea before bed, Camomile well loved classic for bedtime, menstrual cramps or stress. Other great teas include Valerian Root tea, Peppermintor Lemon Verbena. I personally find that hving something warm in my tummy always helps me sleep, even warm milk.

Technology Free

Try and give your brain time to shut off before bed, turn off the tablets, laptops and phones… start a nice cleansing routine and put on some classical music with the lights dimmed, get yourself ready for work the next day, anything to just to stay away from any IT gadgets you have. You’ll notice the benefits. Even meditate!

Time After Time

The body relies on routine for a proper nights sleep, you need eight hours sleep for a 16 hour day to try and get to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning and trust me, after a while, you won’t need any of the remedies listed above.

I do hope these help, I used to suffer terribly with insomnia, I would toss and turn until I would eventually get up and make a cup of tea and watch a film, these days, I’d sleep through a hurricane. I’ve tried all of the above and I rarely sleep until the afternoon, it’s been proven you can’t bank sleep, it won’t make a difference for your week ahead, I just get up when my eyes open on my days off which is normally around 9am anyway. Do try these, it will definitely help.