A Good Night’s Sleep

Ever got told to “sleep on it” when a situation became too hard to handle? Or as the French say “la nuit porte conseil“, which roughly translates as ‘the night will bring you council’. But what can you do when you just can’t sleep and you spend the whole night tossing and turning in your bed? Here we delve a little into what goes into A Good Night’s Sleep and on how to peacefully fall into Morpheus’ arms. Here’s some help where it’s needed for not only a good night’s rest but also the calming of busy minds.

Many resources have shown over the years that sleep has a real virtue on our bodies, and how the idea of ‘the sleeping beauty’ is real. But what is the relationship between the brain, its creativity and sleep? If sleeping beauty is a thing then does sleeping creativity exist?

If we look at it in a creative way, we do know that many artists have faced sleeping issues. Many find that ‘her ladyship’ the creative muse chooses to arrive as she wishes, not as and when she may be required. Creatives across the worlds of music to acting, design to architecture suffer from a mind alive and buzzing when all the body wants to do is sleep. To name but two artists, Louise Bourgeois and Vincent Van Gogh both suffered from severe insomnia. For them getting a good night’s sleep didn’t do much harm to their creativity but surely for a short time only.

With Vincent Van Gogh, his inspiration from memories of sleepless nights can be seen in The Starry Night. The painting depicts the view from Vincent’s room from the asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, where he stayed for one difficult year.

As for Louise Bourgeois, she directly made art when she had insomniac’s episodes. From November 1994 to June 1995, she created 220 pieces called Insomnia Drawings from nights when she couldn’t sleep.

Lacking sleep will cause stress and a lack of energy that makes it impossible to do anything productive or creative. Not only does it affect our minds, but it affects our bodies, our emotions and our ability to work. We can become slow, impatient unfocused, and physically unwell. For example, who knew that a lack of sleep can cause vision problems such as glaucoma, blurry vision and dry eyes. Severe eye issues can eventually place limits on our creativity and the daily activities that we currently carry out quite independently. If you have any sleep-related vision concerns, get in touch with your local opticians, and if required, you can visit website online to order prescription glasses. The more it’s deprived of sleep, the more the body needs sleep to recover. Because sleeping is quite simply a vital function of the body, mind, and spirit.

Plenty of other artists have taken advantage of their incapacity to fall asleep to create or to get inspired. Maybe you are one of them who can’t bear to toss and turn for hours in bed, and instead decides to dedicate the time to art.

If we look at it in a scientific way, we do know that for proper functioning, our bodies need 7-8 hours night of sleep per night. Studies have found that not having it immediately affects the body and the mind. Lacking sleep will cause stress and a lack of energy that makes it impossible to do anything productive or creative. Not only does it affect our minds, but it affects our bodies, our emotions and our ability to work. We can become slow, impatient unfocused, and physically unwell. The more it’s deprived of sleep, the more the body needs sleep to recover. Because sleeping is quite simply a vital function of the body, mind, and spirit.

For some, trying to fall asleep can quickly turn into a nightmare. From our earliest memories of childhood, we remember that when we couldn’t fall asleep, we were told to count sheep. As we grew up, we were told to do yoga or meditation, not drink coffee, avoid screens and eat lightly, before bedtime. The list of restrictions can go on… 

But sometimes, all we need is just a little help. And the brand Anatomē just might be the lord and saviour for those who can’t help but stay awake all night long.

The London based brand believes that a combination of science and nature can be a real solution to our problems. From essential oil, to tea, to candles, the brand has come up with a product range fully dedicated to treating sleeping problems. The brand understands that insomnia is not “only a one layer issue” so they’ve created a fully rounded approach to tackling your sleep-based problems.

Essential oil

To start with, this is a collection of essential oils that cover four different problem areas of sleep that are defined.

By either applying it directly on the skin, putting it in a diffuser, or in your bath, they will release the ‘Relax, Reset and Recover’ virtues to both the body and the mind.

 The Blue German Chamomile

If you wake up in the middle and have trouble getting back to sleep, The Blue German Chamomile essential oil is what you need. The key ingredient, Chamomile is key for sleeping products as it is well-know to accelerate sleep. This oil blend soothes insomnia and is great for individuals facing anxiety and emotional stress, causing them to awaken throughout the night.

 The Light Sleeper

Maybe you feel as though you want to have deeper and longer sleep? The Light Sleeper oil will become your best ally. Using an ounce of Japanese Seaweed that encourages deep sleep, it will provide relaxation to the body and mind. With it, your sleeping pattern will be improved and you be able to sleep throughout the entire night.

The Overactive Mind

Maybe you are like Louise Bourgeois, and just can’t stop thinking before falling asleep? The Overactive Mind essential oil will ease those never-ending thoughts. Made from Somalian Frankincense, it encourages feelings of calm and soothes the mind thanks to its relaxing and meditative qualities. Made for hyperactive and racing minds or individuals who just don’t stop, The Overactive Mind essential oil will provide physical and mental relief.

The Classic Lavender

Last but not least, is Anatomē’s signature essential oil, The Classic Lavender. It’s key ingredient English Lavender, is deeply relaxing and emotionally supporting. The Classic Lavender essential oil brings general relaxation to the body and mind. Presented under the Recovery + Sleep designation, the oil will soothe the mind and calmingly invigorate the body. 

Each bottle of oil comes with an instruction card highlighting the best places on the body to massage the oil into for maximum relief. Also, each of the essential oils are also available in travel size, to make sure you can sleep anywhere.

Don’t know which product to start with? Take the Anatomē sleep questionnaire and find out in 10 questions which sleep oil is right for you.

Then can you advance to an online consultation; the brand describes it thus:-

‘Our qualified health experts will help you connect your emotional and physical health, and in this appointment we can help in a number of ways. We can help you to sleep better, how to better manage stress, help you optimise your diet on a restricted grocery list, and how to support your immune system’.

Simply go online and book an introductory appointment and you will be sent a questionnaire to fill out. After they will send you a link in order to meet you virtually and support your needs from a healthy diet to exercise and what added nutrients and sleep aid or health aids you may need.

Your exercise diet and lifestyle are all part and parcel of good mental and physical health, all of which promote good sleep.

Having sleeping patterns, like going to sleep at the same time, helps the body and mind prepare for sleep. Having a regulated daily schedule and blocking the working hours with set tasks also helps relieve stress. Planning your day and being able to assure yourself that you have time to complete everything you need to do really helps. Problem solving skills are empowered. You can feel safe in the knowledge that you have set yourself a specific time in the day to deal with whatever issue may be at hand. This means you don’t have to dwell on it and let it bring you down. Overthinking is conquered when you help yourself to destress. Through concentration and organisation, the mind is able to work on one thing at a time.

How about taking a little walk? Whether this be outside or simply away from the computer, it’s another technique to help soothe the mind and body. Even if it’s only for 10 minutes. With many of us working from home, and looking to do so for the foreseeable future, it is hard to separate our working life from our downtime. Walking away for fresh air or eating away from the desk calms the mind and gives it some much-needed rest.

Then, of course, there is diet. Yes, we’ve heard it all before, but the food we eat feeds our brain. Unfortunately, there is simply no getting away with eating badly and expecting ourselves to think sharply and clearly.

An unbalanced diet doesn’t literally feed our brains, let alone our bodies. The Anatomē team will help you to create a diet sheet that works for your personal needs. It’s not about taking out foods you love per se, but about building a well-balanced set of meals that feed the brain as much as the body. This is one of the key areas where the online consultation really comes into its own. An explanation of what to eat and why, combined with a perfectly matched essential oil, brings the whole treatment programme together.

If you’re not the type to use oils, worry not. In addition to these products, the brand has also released Reset, Relax + Sleep health supplement. By taking one capsule 30 min before bedtime with a glass of water, the body will find itself in a restful sleep. These tablets bring on a natural feeling of tiredness and makes drifting off much easier and quicker for those who suffer from disruptive nights.

Finally, for a good night sleep the Somali Frankincense Sleep Candle. Created from a mix of Anatomē’s signature Sleep Oil and Somali Frankincense. With a burn time of 50 hours, the candle has a removable lid that will preserve its fragrance for longer.

Anatomē combines the very best of nature and science to restore calm to our lives. Using an expert team of aromacologists and nutritionists, Anatomē has the most natural nutritional supplements, vitamins and botanical therapeutic oils on earth, to support sleep, recovery, health and much more.

Anatome was created by Brendan Murdock to support his own wellbeing, his team includes Henna who obtained her Nutrition + Dietetics BSc and has a keen interest in women’s health, weight management, and sports nutrition, and is available today for online nutrition and sleep appointments. Their head nutritionist, is Winder Ton Msc, a qualified dietician and sleep expert. An appointment with him can help you find sleep, stress, and dietary solutions. Let’s learn how to support our bodies, we owe it to ourselves!

For the consultation service you can directly book an appointment on Anatomē website, here’s the link. The shop is  2-4 Piccadilly, Princes Arcade, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6DS

Photo’s Credit to Jason Yates, here you can find his website.

Did you enjoy A Good Slight Sleep? Why not read more about it with sleep sleep sleep or To Sleep To Dream here.