Advertorial promotion
With World Sleep Day (14 March) just around the corner, upgrade your bedtime routine and with our pick of the best supplements and wellness products to help you sleep better, from lavender-infused skincare to soothing herbal remedies.
Organic Shop Dreamy Nights Collection (£5.99 each, superdrug.com)
Upgrade your bedtime ritual with Organic Shop’s Dreamy Nights Collection! Infused with lavender, blueberry & melatonin, this relaxing line of bath and body products works to soothe your senses while enhancing the skin’s nightly repair cycle, preparing the body for a restful night and helping you to sleep better. Now available online at superdrug.com.
Revive Active Sleep capsules (£24.95 for 60 capsules / one month supply, reviveactive.com)
The natural way to a restful night’s sleep. NEW Sleep capsules from Revive Active, are a simple and effective way to support relaxation and night-time routines with calming botanicals, potent plant extracts and synergistic minerals. Montmorency cherry, chamomile, lavender flower and purple passionflower help to improve all elements of sleep; efficiency, quality and duration.
Good Health Naturally Ancient Magnesium® Lotion Ultra with Melatonin (£21.95 for 200ml, goodhealthnaturally.com)
If you’re looking for products to help you sleep better, try Good Health Naturally’s Ancient Magnesium® Lotion Ultra with Melatonin (200ml), which is naturally formulated to nourish the skin and support magnesium intake. Simply massage into the skin before bedtime to help promote a calmer and more rested state. Get 20% off with code TOPSANTE25 (T&Cs apply).
Wassen Relax + Unwind (£13.99 for £14-day supply, wassen.com)
Prepare to unwind and rest with Wassen Relax + Unwind, a soothing black cherry-flavoured drink. Each serving provides essential nutrients to support the body while you sleep, including magnesium, calcium, zinc, iodine, copper, and chromium. The botanical lemon balm promotes optimal relaxation, preparing you for a peaceful and restorative slumber.
Ways to sleep better
1. Nap Clever
“If you find napping tricky, try hypnagogic mindfulness or yoga nidra instead. These approaches are similar and resemble the traditional body scan in mindfulness meditation,” says sleep and dream expert Charlie Morley (charliemorley.com)
“Both recharge your batteries and allow deep rest without actually sleeping. Free sessions are available via Insight Timer or on my website. Yoga nidra is also safer for those working through trauma while offering the same neurological benefits as standard mindfulness meditation.”
2. Optimise Your Sleep-Eat Cycle
‘Keep food away from sleep by finishing your evening meal at least two hours before you go to bed to help with digestion. Evening meals should be light and easy to digest. A soup or a bowl of steamed vegetables is a great option. Some people even thrive on a protein smoothie as an evening option to ease digestion and prepare for the overnight fast,’ says Bridget Hancock, naturopathic nutritionist and author (bridgetlouisenutrition.com).
3. Try Journalling
‘Take a few minutes to journal your thoughts at the end of the day. Letting go of the day’s anxieties, practical concerns and general information shifts you towards restful sleep,’ says Bridget.
4. Relax Your Body
Add Epsom salts and lavender drops to a warm bath to unwind, and apply magnesium oil to relax your muscles after your bath.
5. Avoid Alcohol
‘It is often easier to get to sleep after drinking alcohol, but once it is broken down in the body, it almost balances out the initial feeling of deep sleep by giving you lighter, lower-quality, disrupted sleep,’ says Bridget.
Read on: 14 ways to sleep better
Is 432Hz frequency music good for sleep?
You probably listen to music to put you in a certain mood: funky tracks to get ready for a night out, perhaps some classical while cooking dinner, or chill out tunes for an evening at home with friends. But do you listen to it to help you sleep? A new study has shown that listening to music tuned at a specific frequency can help fill you with such a sense of peace – in just two minutes – that you’re guaranteed to have a better night’s sleep. The specific frequency in question is 432Hz, which also happens to be the frequency at which the earth beats – but why is 432Hz music good for sleep?
Music at 432Hz frequency vibrates at the same rhythm as the earth. This is called the Shumann Resonance, after German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann who in 1952 documented the frequency of electromagnetic waves that pulse from the Earth. ‘Sound is a vibration in the air that we call a frequency, which we measure in Hertz. These vibrations travel in waves causing changes in pressure. This is what the ear picks up,’ explains musician John Leicester.
‘The faster the vibration, the higher the frequency and therefore the higher the sound or note you hear. It takes around 1000 vibrations to make up just 1Hz. Older people tend to find it harder to hear the higher frequencies.’ In general, most humans can hear from around 20-2000-Hz. However, there are many more frequencies below and above this, some of which animals and insects can detect.
Read on and find out the benefits and reasons behind why listening to 432Hz music can help you sleep.
