Content created in partnership with The Body Shop
In 2020, ‘insomnia’ was googled more than ever before and #selfcare overtook #skincare as the most commonly used beauty hashtag. But with beauty brands battling it out for our wellness dollars, knowing who to trust is essential.
A multi-trillion dollar industry and counting, it pays to be a little bit sceptical about wellness products. On the other hand, as more of us struggle with insomnia and its knock-on mental health effects, it’s easy to be seduced by their typically vague promises, so desperate are we to believe this pill, elixir or app will be the answer to our sleepless nights and stressed out days.
No wonder we find ourselves up to our bloodshot eyeballs in online reviews in an attempt to separate the pseudoscience from the real deal, and decipher not only which products are worth our money, but exactly what results we can reasonably expect for that price.
It’s here that a trusted name can come in handy, and few are more trusted in the beauty and self-care space than The Body Shop. Boasting 46 years of expertise in beauty rituals and an environmentally and socially responsible business model that spans sustainably-sourced ingredients to planet-friendly packaging, The Body Shop’s products will have wound their way into most Kiwis’ bathroom cabinets at one time or another, many becoming mainstays for their efficacy and reliability.
More than prettily scented soaps, The Body Shop prides itself on naturally-inspired formulations that don’t overpromise and certainly don’t under deliver. Essentially, they do what they say they will, and that’s why we’re paying attention to the brand’s latest venture – a wellness range created to tackle what the company says is a global sleep and wellbeing crisis.
Named ‘Sleep’, ‘Boost’ and ‘Breathe’, three essential oil blends are the heroes of the range, with each blend forming the basis of a mini-range of products developed by experts to support a specific area of wellness. The idea is to make a ritual of each mini range. Your ‘Sleep’ ritual, for example, would begin in the bath or shower with a relaxing Hair and Body Wash infused with lavender and Madagascan vetiver. You might follow on with a soothing Sleep Body Cream, a spritz of Calming Pillow Mist and, finally, a few dabs of the Essential Oil Blend directly onto your pulse points. If your eyes are getting heavy just reading about it, you can imagine the gently sedating effect of these potent ingredients wafting off your warm, clean skin and working their sensory magic on your subconscious. Oh, and if you’re not convinced yet, The Body Shop’s Sleep routine is even clinically proven by the European Sleep Center* to help you sleep better!
Or make that sensory science, because this isn’t simply woo woo nonsense. According to Maxime Elbaz, Doctor of Neuroscience and Specialist of Sleep & e-Health at the European Sleep Center, bedtime rituals are key to resetting our sleep cycles. Says Dr Elbaz, “If sleep re-education measures are not put in place, we will see the emergence of more sleep problems such as insomnia, leading to psychological fragility including anxiety and depression.”
If that’s not enough to get you prioritising better sleep hygiene, consider the impact of a good night’s sleep on your skin. That’s right, beauty sleep is real, with the European Sleep Center stating that a good quality and duration of sleep directly benefits our skin health. Indeed, in a recent Korean study, skin texture was significantly damaged after four nights of sleep deprivation, compared to when subjects received a full eight hours of shut eye.
Of course, if achieving a good night’s sleep were as simple as a four-step self-care routine, we wouldn’t all be walking around like zombies and our local coffee shops would be out of business. Far from something we do with our eyes closed, sleep is a complicated beast, and it can take months if not years and a complex combination of therapies and lifestyle adjustments to unlearn poor sleep hygiene. So if sleep still eludes you, don’t despair (seriously, that’s about the worst thing you can do), and instead shift your focus to shoring up your body’s daytime defences.
Enriched with energising mandarin and bergamot, The Body Shop’s Boost blend is the thing to put some zing in your step. Built around its delightfully citrusy hero blend which lends its invigorating scent and mind-stimulating properties to six additional essential oil infused products, the Boost range is replete with revitalising options for waking up dull, tired skin and tricking our brains into thinking we aren’t the worn out human husks the past couple of years has – let’s face it – turned us all into.
The third blend in the range is Breathe – so named because it utilises the famously sinus-clearing eucalyptus (sourced from smallholder producers in China from The Body Shop’s Community Fairtrade Program) along with healing organic rosemary (from a family owned-cultivator in Spain) to encourage deep, restorative breathing. You need only scroll through your Instagram explore feed to see that breathwork – the practice of mindful breathing to improve mental, physical and spiritual health – is the new Bikram yoga. Suffice it to say, with a combination of Breathe’s invigorating Body Cream, Calm Balm and Essential Oil Blend, you’ll be breathing your way to better health in no time.
*When using the 4-step bedtime routine to help fall asleep faster and to improve sleep quality – by the European Sleep Center
