Introducing Need State: SLEEP.
“Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds.” – JoJo Jensen
“Sleep is the best meditation.” according to the Dalai Lama. We’d like to add to that: “Sleep is the best meditation and medication”. Let’s face it if we don’t get enough sleep we all wake the difficult toddler in us. More often than not, all our inner toddlers are really asking is for some love and a good rest.
The story behind our SLEEP. range
Lack of sleep is something Izandi Serdyn, the founder and owner of Heal Spa & Healing Products, knows all about. Being an entrepreneur, wife and mother of two young kids (of which her youngest, Dawid, suffers from craniosynostosis ) Izandi knows the struggle to get some good shuteye is real. For a few years, schedule 5 sleeping pills were her go-to.
When the COVID pandemic struck, she was struck with even more sleepless nights: how will she keep the boat afloat at Heal Spa when her therapists can’t reach their clients? Izandi had 2 options: lie down (unable to sleep anyway), or get up and make a plan. How could she keep the heart of Heal Spa alive and put bread on the table?
This was the birth of Heal Spa’s product range expansion: Healing. During the pandemic, it became clear to Izandi: that if we want to bring Healing into our homes, we need 3 things:
– quality SLEEP.
– to give our bodies an IMMUNE BOOST.
– a little UPLIFTING.
And between addressing these 3 need states, we need to remember to breathe.
The Healing team formulated three aromatherapy essential oil blends: SLEEP. IMMUNE BOOST. UPLIFTING.
Why Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy functions through 3 levels in our bodies: our sense of smell, absorption through inhalation and absorption through our skin. It is a form of alternative medicine that relies on increasing antioxidant activity in our bodies. But what does this actually mean?
Antioxidants counteract Free Radicals, which are unstable atoms causing damage to cells, leading to illness and ageing. Simply put; the more Antioxidant activity in our bodies, the less chance of sickness and premature ageing. A substance’s antioxidant capacity is measured in ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). Essential oils have a high ORAC value, thus they help elevate Antioxidant activity in the body. When we use these oils in Aromatherapy, we’re able to experience their benefits pretty fast due to their tiny molecular structure which allows for absorption in the bloodstream within 5 minutes of application. This means that you can enhance your physical and emotional health within minutes of application inhalation of essential oils.
Through the foundation of aromatherapy and our unique essential oil formulations, Healing Products, have brought healing into homes, offices and travelling. All products are natural, cruelty-free, gender-neutral and suitable for all ages.
Why is SLEEP. so important though?
Matthew Paul Walker is an English scientist and professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California. Walker has dedicated his work to the impact of sleep on human health. In his book, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, he states that “…our lack of sleep is a slow form of self-euthanasia...” Sounds harsh, but when we gain a little insight into the science behind sleep, one realises this statement isn’t far from the truth.
When sleep is abundant, our minds are able to flourish and our bodies can function at their best – especially when it comes to healing. Here are some of Walker’s scientific findings that stood out for us:
- Humans need more than seven hours of sleep each night to maintain cognitive performance. After ten days of just seven hours of sleep, the brain is as dysfunctional as it would be after going without sleep for twenty-four hours. Three full nights of recovery sleep (i.e., more nights than a weekend) are insufficient to restore performance back to normal levels after a week of short sleeping.
- The physical and mental impairments caused by one night of bad sleep dwarf those caused by an equivalent absence of food or exercise.
- The REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep dreaming state fuels creativity. How?
REM sleep takes freshly minted memories and begins colliding them with the entire back catalogue of your life’s autobiography. These “collisions” during REM sleep ignite new creative insights as novel links are forged between seemingly unrelated pieces of information. Sleep cycle by sleep cycle, REM sleep helps construct vast associative networks of information within the brain. Basically it helps your brain to see information as a whole, instead of just a catalogue of random facts to be remembered. This is why, after a good night of sleep, we can awake the next morning with new solutions to previously intractable problems.
- NREM (non-rapid-eye-movement) sleep helps transfer and “save” newly learned information into long-term storage sites in the brain. During deep NREM sleep specifically, the brain communicates a calming signal to the fight-or-flight sympathetic branch of the body’s nervous system. It does this for long durations of the night. As a result, deep sleep prevents an escalation of physiological stress that is synonymous with increased blood pressure, heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.
So if we don’t sleep well, we will experience concentration issues, and we may struggle to solve simple problems which can lead to anxiety and depression due to the frustration of having impaired cognitive function. This in turn has an effect on our mood and energy levels, resulting in things like lack of sex drive, unproductivity at work, disconnection in our interpersonal relationships, etc.
On the physiological side, many health problems can arise if we don’t get enough NREM sleep to calm our sympathetic nervous system. The moral of the story: sleep is no luxury, it is an absolute necessity. This is why SLEEP. forms is a fundamental need our Healing Products address.
So, what are the secret ingredients to our SLEEP. range?
After just 1 week of using Healing SLEEP. oil at night, Izandi was able to completely ditch the schedule 5 pills. You can check out our SLEEP. Range, our online shop. But first, let’s let you in on our secret ingredients and some of their benefits.
Lavender Oil
This is probably the most famous essential oil when it comes to the topic of sleep. It radically improves the quality of sleep and helps reduce stress and anxiety. Lavender oil is also known to ease depression, improve mood, and relieve headaches and pain. Additionally, it may also reduce blood pressure and heart rate.
Neroli Oil
When inhaled, Neroli Oil has been shown to reduce stress, combat anxiety, and lower blood pressure. A whiff of Neroli oil may provide some relief for women struggling with menstrual cramps. You don’t have to lose sleep over that part of your womanhood.
Roman Chamomile Oil
Fights Anxiety and Depression & Reduces Symptoms of Insomnia
Now, how do you make these work for you?
Here are some of Izandi’s tips for quality sleep and the favourite ways that she includes the SLEEP. range in her everyday life.
Izandi’s Tips for a good nights SLEEP.
Get a bedtime and breathing routine.
As mentioned, without enough sleep, we become difficult toddlers. One of the best ways to help toddlers to sleep is a bedtime routine. As we get older, we simply ditch the routine. If you really want optimal results you must use our SLEEP. Range products every night. The only way I could do this is to get myself into a nightly routine.
I ditch the screentime an hour before I go to bed by charging my cellphone in another room. If that’s not an option, I put my phone on bedtime mode and place it on a surface away from my bed stand so I’m not tempted to check the screen when in bed. I replaced my phone’s place on my nightstand, with a bottle of SLEEP. Oil.
If I’m pressed for time, whether at home or whilst travelling, as I get into bed, I add a few drops of oil into my hand palms and rub them together. I cup my hands over my nose and mouth and take a few deep breaths. This way I inhale the relaxation and allow my body to absorb the oils through my skin too. Before I know it, lights out! By the way, this breathing technique is also great if you need to calm down in the daytime. When I feel overwhelmed or anxious, I grab my Roller Essential SLEEP. Oil from my handbag, roll some oil onto my palms and breathe in the calm – it really is a gamechanger.
Initiate Family Rub-downs
Include your family in your bedtime routine. It’s become a very special practice in our household to rub some SLEEP. Oil on each other’s hands and feet before we go to bed. You’ll be surprised at the calming, healing effect a little loving touch has.
Give your partner the gift of a slumber-massage
Let’s face it, after a long day, you don’t necessarily feel up to sexy time… Sometimes the most intimate gift can be a little connection, without anticipating sex. Give this a little try: light our SLEEP. Soy Wax Massage Candle the next time your partner takes a shower/bath before bedtime. Let some of the warm wax pool, pour into your hands and treat your beloved to a gentle massage before they go to sleep.
Sleep Hack for New Parents
By now you know that our oils are safe to use on babies and toddlers. Add a few drops of Aromatherapy SLEEP. Oil to their bath. Then massage them with our SLEEP. Body Butter or BALM. to which you added a few drops of SLEEP. Oil. As a final touch, switch on your HEALING HUMIDIFIER, say good night and see how the entire family enjoys quality SLEEP.
Now, who’s looking forward to bedtime?
https://healspa.co.za/product/body-butter-sleep-175-ml/