HOW NATURAL SCENTS CAN HELP YOU REDUCE STRESS AND SLEEP BETTER Have you noticed that getting a restful night’s sleep is becoming more challenging? In these unusual times you are not alone. As we spend an increasing amount of time indoors on lockdown, a lack of natural sunlight and exercise is playing havoc with our circadian rhythms. With Covid proving a source of stress worldwide and the winter chill keeping us trapped indoors, it is more essential than ever to make our homes a happy and relaxed space. Small changes like not reading phone or computer screens before attempting to sleep, or adding essential oils to your pillow are little rituals that can have remarkable effects on the quality of your sleep. A lack of sleep and increased stress leave you feeling unbalanced. The global pandemic has severely impacted our former routines have been. Finding alternate ways of relaxing and maintaining a healthy amount of sleep can go a long way to ensuring that you remain in good shape! ANCIENT WISDOM INFORMING MODERN SCIENCE Essential oils and other natural scents, like incense, have been used to help reduce stress for centuries. The Ancient Egyptians, Romans and Chinese used essential oils and scents as part of healing, and modern-day scientists have begun studying the effects of different scents on the brain and body, the latter primarily with essential oils. Having calming and relaxing scents around when you sleep was shown to have a significant effect on our sleep patterns. Wellness and aromatherapy are rising stars as the sleep deprived look to natural remedies to help them relax. Some hospitals have even started to use aromatherapy to complement other medical disciplines to help patients de-stress. SCENTS CAN TAKE YOU TO A DIFFERENT PLACE Can you remember a time when you have walked into a room that smelt like lavender and felt the tension melt away? Our sense of smell is intrinsically linked to memory; the smell of your favorite perfume, the scent of roses, these recall impressions of past memories. From our early human ancestors our reactions to scent are coded in our DNA. The scent of a bonfire is associated with food and warmth, rain on freshly turned soil a reminder of fresh growth. FIND YOU PERFECT BLEND WITH FOUR SCENTS BOTANICAL Certain scents when picked up by the olfactory nerves are transmitted to the sensory part of your brain and cause a relaxing effect, priming your body for sleep. We all react to scents differently so it is important to experiment to find which oils work best for you. Some scents like lavender and chamomile are calming, while others like ginger and lemongrass are more likely to be stimulating and rejuvenating. At Four Scents Botanical we use sustainably sourced botanicals and natural, pure essential oils to create aromas that will bring the outdoors inside. Our Alchemist Perfumer has crafted scent combinations to reflect the seasons, and the blend of essential oils and clean burning eco-soya wax result in lingering scents that are designed to make your home a more relaxing place to unwind.