How To Get A Good Night’s Sleep

Sleep is a fragile thing. Even small things can send us out of sync and disturb our sleep patterns. Even if we think we are getting ‘some sleep’ our body might be telling us differently because it hasn’t gone through the full sleep cycles needed for restorative sleep.  

Sultan Dajani Community Pharmacist and adviser to DragonflyCBD, says: “Several factors can impact sleep from a change in routine to stress and anxieties keeping us awake at night to insomnia where our body or minds just can’t seem to be able to switch off.

“I have no doubt, people, up and down the country are dealing with the fall out of disturbed sleep. Coronavirus has changed our daily life patterns and increased our worries from looking after our health to dealing with the anguish of being separated from loved ones and anticipating what the new world will look like.

Even what may seem small things such as leaving the house for a walk have all added greatly to the pressures causing anxiety and stress which in turn cause us sleepless nights, and it becomes a vicious circle.”

Sleep Cycles

Sleep cycles can generally be split into non-REM and REM phases (Rapid Eye Movement). Each sleep cycle generally lasts around 90 minutes and if our sleep is interrupted, we go back to stage one and start going through the phases again. So, if sleep is broken the deep sleep stages may not be reached.

• Stage one: We fall into a light sleep and our eye movements are slowed down
• Stage two: Still in a light stage, the brain waves start to slow
• Stages three and four: The brain produces delta waves and this is when you will start to experience deeper and restorative sleep. This is when the body starts to repair itself

REM sleep is the most active stage. Our eyes quickly move, our brain is active, our blood pressure and heart rate go up and it’s in this stage that we dream.  The REM sleep is a phase that’s closely linked with mental recharge and is believed to play an important role in learning, memory, and emotion, helping to regulate mood.

Snooze Tips

#1. Routine: Try to keep to your normal sleep times. This will help your body know what it should be doing and will help you be ready for sleep at the end of the day. It will also help your mental health to know what we are doing day-to-day, and this will also help us sleep better.

#2. Exercise: If you can, get some daily exercise. It will help release endorphins, the happy hormones, which makes us feel better and more equipped to handle things, which will give us a calmer mind when it comes to sleep. Exercise also expends energy, which will help us when it comes to sleep as well. 

#3. Beauty sleep: A lack of snooze time is bad news for our skin. That’s why a good night’s sleep is described as getting your beauty sleep for good reason.

Research shows that even one bad night doesn’t do wonders for your face and skin. A study in which 40 observers were asked to rate 20 facial photographs for tiredness, facial cues, and sadness. The faces they were asked to rate were those who had slept normally or those who had a sleep-deprived night following only five hours sleep.

The faces of sleep-deprived people were perceived as having more hanging eyelids, redder eyes, more swollen eyes, paler skin, more wrinkles/fine lines, and more droopy corners to the mouth.^[1]

The ever-popular CBD oil (AKA cannabidiol) is an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant and can help to keep skin youthful, plump, and glowing when applied directly to the skin. Research also shows CBD when applied topically can be a ‘wrinkle fighter’ thanks to its antioxidant properties.

As a result, CBD can fight off aging by helping to protect cells from damage. These antioxidants can also reduce the signs of skin damage from the sun; a huge contributor to ageing. Try New DragonflyCBD Face cream 300mg (£35 for 30ml) in the morning and before bed to give your face a helping hand. The cannabis sativa L used in the cream is grown organically and is quality controlled so you get the safest and most consistent CBD.

And if you suffer from spots then-emerging research is showing that CBD can help prevent sebum-producing cells from creating too much of oily sebum, a key trigger for acne. This same research also revealed that CBD prevented acne-triggered cytokines from being stimulated, and the fewer cytokines, the better!

This doesn’t just apply to the face, but body acne too. Try New DragonflyCBD Body lotion 500mg (£35 for 100ml) post-shower for a CBD skin hit.

#4. Note things down: One thing that can keep us awake at night is the thoughts that go through our heads. And sometimes it can be trying to remember them that actually keeps us from switching off properly. Keep a notepad handy and jot down any thoughts that come into your head as you get ready for bed. Also jot down the things you need to do the next day, this will help you ‘release’ them from your memory

#5. Sleep ZEN: There is a natural way that you can help your sleep and ease anxieties. A few drops of DragonflyCBD as part of your daily routine ticks all the boxes for helping you feel relaxed which also means better quality sleep that we need to fully restore our body and mins. DragonflyCBD oil has been shown to reduce conditioned fear^[2] and anxiety^{[3],[4],[5],[6]} and the World Health Organization has recognised that CBD may have the potential to help health issues such as anxiety and insomnia.^{[7],[8],[9],[10]}

#6. Talk: Keep in contact with friends and family it will help you feel more connected. Talking also helps us to release pent-up thoughts or share problems or worries. Which usually when shared receive good advice or make us feel instantly better. Avoid the draw of retreating into yourself. With lockdown easing we can all understand the worries and anxieties that lie ahead.