Sleeping well at night may never have been my strength in life. This last year my sleeplessness has become more of an issue. Now with me having no wake-up time it has escalated to an even worse state. I have developed a few tips and tricks to help me get to sleep and have a better night's sleep, so I thought I would share what has been helping me.

Routine:
First, off a good night time routine is probably the best thing you can do to help you sleep. It starts to signal to your brain that you will be going to sleep soon and by having a consistent routine you reinforce these signals.

My routine is generally simple, I brush my teeth and do my skincare routine. I recently added a few more steps to it to really get myself relaxed and add reinforcement to the fact that I am going to bed.

Scent:
After my skincare, I like to apply a night time scent to my body. I have a big selection of essential oils, this is my preferred time to apply them. I am a huge believer in scent association and scent memories.
I often apply my Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Roller Ball or one of the many other essential oil rollers I have in my collection. I picked up during the holidays Sage Pocket Pharmacy, I carried it around in my purse ever since. Now that I am at home I have been using it quite a bit.
I usually apply my rollers to my wrists and my decolletage. If I am extra restless I may apply some to the palms of my hands and then cup my hand to my mouth and take deep breaths.
Another scent ritual I have been enjoying is my ThisWorks Deep Sleep Pillow Spray. I spritz some onto my pillow and it gets engulfed in the scent of lavender and camomile. I have also made my own pillow spray with lavender witch hazel and some mint essential oils, but I honestly love the premade one so much more than I ever thought I could.
When I don't feel like a pillow spray, I often use my Sage Tranquility Balancing Mist, it is filled with chamomile, ylang-ylang and orange. You spritz it over your face and body and leaves you smelling like the calming scent it is.

Light:
Light is always popping into my bedroom. Sometimes it's from outside, sometimes it is my hubby's phone. So I started to wear an eye mask. They block the light but also stop me from staring at the ceiling all night by making me close my eyes. I have a Sephora Collection one from a few Christmasses back, but I am very much considering getting a new one that covers more.
Another neat trick my husband started doing is that when he's on his phone and things the light might keep me up or wake me up, is he takes an unused pillow and lays it sideways down the bed, it blocks his light from hitting me and stops me from looking at it.

Sound:
If I am all stressed and can't settle down when it comes time for bed, I really enjoy using meditation or nature sounds app. I used to tell google assistant "good night google" and after setting a time that I wanted to wake up I would get my choice of soothing sounds for an hour. Lately, though I have upgraded to a meditation app. I got a lot of recommendations to use Insight Timer.
With just the free program I get thousands of options to help me sleep. If I want to listen to music or sounds, want a story or a meditation it is all there. I haven't run out of things to relax me and I am only using the free content. I really like guided sleep meditations, they help me let go of physical tension and dose off.
Finally a few extra little tips.

Try to cut out the caffeine. I know a lot of people say it doesn't affect them, but if your struggling to sleep through the night or even fall asleep, it probably is. Switch to caffeine-free pop, tea or coffee or try another type of beverage altogether. I typically try to cut out coffee by 4:00 and pop and tea by 8:00.

Make your bed. Nothing gets me snuggly and ready to sleep like crawling into a tidy bed (except a bed with a fresh new sheet, that's even better).

Finally, do that one thing that really helps you relax. For me, this is a bath. I love a hot hot hot bubble bath or salt bath. I almost always will fall asleep right in it so when I get out I am definitely ready for a good night's sleep.

I hope that I have helped give you some tips for a betters night's sleep.

Hi guys, I thought I would give you a bit of an update on what is happening right now.

No longer is my blog Batting a Lash at jillojello.com, it is now Beauty Vixen over at Beautyvixen.ca.
I am ecstatic about this change, it has taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to my site, but I feel I have finally figured it out.

As a result my social media has also changed, the good news is that if you already followed me is that  you still are, it's just under my new name. But, just in case you aren't following me here are my details.

Twitter @beautyvixenca
Facebook /battingalash (the change is still pending)
Pinterest /beatuyvixenca
Instagram @beautyvixenca

I am sure I haven't done everything I need to to make the site 100% yet, but I am working on it. For now it is up and running as is and I will continue to tweak it as I go.

Thanks for all the support and I hope you continue to follow me on my beauty adventures.

Jill