SURPRISING THINGS STOPPING YOU FROM SLEEPING PROPERLY

Do you ever have nights where no matter how hard you try you just cant seem to shut your brain off and get to sleep? or keep waking up in the night restless taking ages to go back off? do you wake up and feeling that you've not had a good nights rest and feel sleepy all throughout the day? There could be many things your not doing and doing wrong in order to get a great nights sleep. Ive found a few pointers on what to do and what not to do that just might be the answer to getting that rejuvenating sleep your desperate for. 

Things that are not helping you...

1. Avoid blue light blue light at night i.e from your phone, tv or computer can affect your melatonin levels which is a hormone produced my the brain to tell your body it time to get ready to sleep, this can have many negative affect on your health for more detailed information on how blue light effects us click here 
2. Avoid caffeine (coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate) Caffeine can have a stimulating effect as soon as 15 minutes after it is consumed. Once in the body, caffeine will persist for several hours, it takes about 6 hours for one half of the caffeine to be eliminated from your body.  I have read you should not consume any caffeine after 2pm.
3. Avoid drinking two hours before bed if your a regular 'wee'er' in the night you can avoid this disturbance by not drinking from two hours before bed however you don't want to dehydrate in the night so having a drink before those two hours is also recommended.
4. Don't watch your clock watching your clock can make your mind race thinking of things to do tomorrow how little time you have ect not letting your mind relax, it may also play a bit of a placebo effect if you watch all the minutes go by stressing about not getting enough sleep and being tired tomorrow i bet no doubt you'll feel tired the next day. 
5. Exercise early some people think exercising can make you tired and you'll be "out like a light" but this is wrong exercise actually gives you a burst of energy although you may feel initially tired from the exercise. you should try to exercise as early as you can in the day and avoid exercise 3-4 hours before bed.
6. Avoid alcohol although a glass of wine might make you sleepy before bed it can actually keep you up through the night and effect your quality of sleep for more info on how alcohol affects sleep click here
7. Don't have heavy meals before bed having heavy meal at night can keep your digestive system working and keep you up avoid and heavy meals in the evening and avoid eating all together at least an hour before bed (I have read elsewhere you should avoid eating after 9pm)
8. Avoid tvs & gadget before bed if your up late at night scrolling through instagram or watching a bit of late night come dine with me it can keep your mind active not allowing it to settle.
9. Avoid bright light create a ambient setting just like the blue light any bright light can keep you up tricking your mind and body that its not bed time yet. Create a relaxing ambient environment for your bedroom with dim or no lighting, maybe after your dinner switch the room lights to lamps.
10. Avoid loud noise kind of a follow on from the last point about creating a ambient setting avoid any harsh noise at night, the chattering from a tv can keep your mind active and stop it relaxing and allowing you to sleep.

Things that might help...

1. Try aromatherapy there are a few scents that are said to help you sleep, make you sleep longer and deeper, and having you feeling more energised when you wake up. Lavender it a all time favourite.
2. Try teas there are a range of teas that can help you sleep be sure its herbal and doesn't contain caffeine. Chamomile tea is a popular choice.
3. Try listening to some relaxing music this could be ocean waves, soft piano, rain ect. you can even get music with delta waves to relax your brain. 
4. Read a book reading helps a lot of people get to sleep by focussing your mind solely on reading you can relax slowly and allow your body and brain to get tired. You should read in a soft light not a bright light.
5. Try a herbal spray you can get herbal sprays for you pillow and oral sprays that can help you sleep and relax try Holland and Barrett.
6. Eat two kiwis a hour before bed lots of scientific studies have proved that kiwis have improve your sleep and quite substantially they have helped people with severe sleep deficiencies 
7. Do some yoga or stretches, stretching before bed can relieve any tension in the body and relax the muscles. Try to focus on your breathing when stretching, taking deep long breaths and flow from on stretch to another
8. Routine, routine, routine,  keeping a good routine of the times you go to bed and wake up will help your body to naturally feel tired when it gets to that certain time and can make your body feel more awake and energised when waking up. 
9. Use a eye mask, I always sleep with a eye mask as it blocks out any sleep jeopardizing light, stops you from looking around and distracting your brain  and for me personally it can make me feel a sense of comfort. 
10. Write a to do list,  write a list of things you have to do tomorrow even down to phone calls you've got to make or things you need to bring up in conversations. Put what ever things you can in order that you need to do them this will help clear your mind of all the worries and stresses of things that need to be done the next day and allow your brain to relax. I always write list before bed and to be honest I write them all through out the day as it takes things off my mind and 
11. Have sex although vigorous exercise is not recommended before bed studies show that sex before bed makes you sleep and can help improve sleep. 
12. Keep a sleep diary                         What were your sleeping times?                                                                                             How long did it take you to get to sleep?
    
    How many times did you wake up during the night?
    How long did each awakening last?
    How long did you sleep in total?
    Did you take any sleeping tablets?
    How well do you feel today?
    How enjoyable was your sleep last night?
    How much caffeine did you have before and after 5pm?
    How much alcohol did you have before and after 5pm?
    Did you do any exercise shortly before going to bed?
    Did you take any naps during the day or evening?
    Has anything made you anxious or stressed?
    
    
    Doctors will ask you to keep a sleep diary to try and diagnose the problem also doing this just before bed can be relaxing.
13. Download Flux flux is an application that can be downloaded for mac and windows which analyses the time of day with your sleep routine and helps protect you from blue light given off by your computer and is harmful to your sleep. it does this by applying a slight orange tinge over the screen to cancel out the blue light all setting can be adjusted. Download Here
14. Try the 90 Minute rule 

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17 MOTHERS DAY GIFTS AND GESTURES

Show your mum how much you love her this mothers day with any of these gifts or gestures.

Gift ideas

1. Take her for meal ( maybe her favourite place or for her favourite type of food)
2. Buy her flowers 
3. Buy her favourite perfume
4. Take her to see a movie or a show
5. Get her a spa day or massage to relax
6. Buy her a personalied gift maybe a mug, cushion, photo frame, wine, apron, photo book ect
7. Buy her a piece of jewellery and get it engraved
8. Buy her a beauty treatment like a manicure, pedicure, or even a blow dry 
9. Make a hamper of all her favourite things, you could include... food, drinks, sweet treats, beauty products, teas/coffees, clothes, photos, scented candles or jewellery
10. If you need to get something lastminute.com how about a gift card at her favourite shop

If your mum says "its the thought that counts" or "don't go spending your money on me" then look no further... you could do one of these gestures to show how much you care without spending big bucks!

1. Have a movie night in
2. Make her favourite meal
3. Make homemade face masks
4. Bake her a cake 
5. Make her a banner or some home decorations 
6. Give it your best go at giving her a manicure or pedicure or simply paint her nails
7. Make her a photo collage 

Do you have any gestures you do for your mum on mothers day?

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MY FAVOURITE APPS

Obviously the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp and Twitter are in my list of favourite apps but who's aren't they in? In this post i'm showing you some of my other most used and loved apps of all time

Heres a quick look at my Favourites ...

Around Me

This app is great, it shows you all the local businesses near your current location. so if your out and about especially visiting somewhere you've never been before maybe you fancy a quick drink? Bite to eat? Need a ATM? Need a hotel? looking for parking? And the list goes on. it will tell you how far the place is your looking for and a map of how to get there.

Pinterest

Pinterest is my favourite app for inspo. people make groups of images usually of a certain category which other people can view, like save ect. I used Pinterest alot when I entered the world of modelling it gave me inspiration for makeup, hair styles, outfit styling, themes, locations, poses and so on. I was able to make collections to show photographers a "mood board" before shoots. Ive also used it for party ideas, valentines day ideas, blog post ideas.. damn it Ive even used it for font inspiration. 

Facetune

This is a app I use for editing my photos even the picture at the top of this post has been edited using Facetune. Its not the only app I use for editing but it one of my favourites. You can brighten, whiten, smooth, filter, crop (and more) your photos with this app, this one I payed a small price for. 

Depop

On this app you can sell and buy stuff, clothes, make-up, products, accessories, home items you name it. Swapping items is also common on this app. You can leave reviews for buyers or sellers and let other people know if they a reliable buyer/seller. You post images of the item your selling at a price you decide with a small description and await the customers. Depop take 10% of the price you sold the item for. Once you have sold a item you are able to see the buyers address so you can post the item. (you can also set a separate amount for the cost of postage)

I use this app for selling personally but I have seen some nice stuff on there which tempts me every time I use the app. I defiantly recommend checking it out.

My Depop username : robyn_ldn

Glow

This app if for the ladies! Sorry lads. I think this app is fab,  its a menstrual and ovulation calculator which helps women learn about their fertility, whether attempting pregnancy or avoiding it! on this app you can record your period, mood, symptoms, sex ect. You complete a daily log and once completed you usually receive tips, whether it be how to deal with high stress levels better or how to ease other symptoms. The app tells you when you most likely fertile, when your period is due and you can set reminders for medications, birth control or other forms of contraception.

You can also engage in conversations about periods, sex, relationships, health, lifestyle ect.

You may have a question you want to ask, maybe you want to find out if your symptoms are normal? If other people experience them? You can ask questions anonymously or un anonymously. you can also create polls, participate in polls, post images and links. 

I defiantly recommend all you ladies check this app out.

What are your favourite apps?

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A MOMENTOUS DAY FOR THE BLOG!

YAYYYY!! Today I picked up this beaut :D I wanted this camera for ages.

After doing loads of research into cameras (im no expert) I decided to go for the Sony A5000. Some of the main reasons I was attracted to this particular camera are:

It provides DSLR quality images without being as bulky as a DSLR

It has a rotating LCD screen so you can see yourself when filming or taking selfies. 

You can transfer your pictures from your camera to your phone using wifi 

You can tilt the flash and make indoor pictures look like they're shot in daylight

Its reasonable price!

One downside to this camera is the audio quality of the videos as many other cameras have better audio quality but I didn't find this a major problem as I can get a mic to record better audio for my videos if it really bothers me.

I was getting slightly disheartened using my iphone to take all my pictures as id go to all the effort of trying to get good lighting, placement, taking 100 photos for one shot and editing them and still end up with pictures not as good as all the thousands of other bloggers out there. If you want to create a good blog that gets attention not only is it about good content but its about the style/look of your blog and I felt like my iphone pictures were holding back my blog, at times I wanted to give up.

This camera will bring a new lease of life into the blog and now I can even think about taking videos! Bare with me as I get used to using the camera like I said im no expert this is all new to me but hopefully ill be taking expert blog pictures in no time ;)  

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WHY USE A BENTONITE CLAY MASK?

I love a face mask and I try to use them weekly. Usually I use lush face masks or I been known to try all kinds of homemade masks but not so long ago I discovered a simple homemade detoxing face mask and its amazing! Its SUPER easy to make as theres only TWO! ingredients, it leaves your skin feeling soooo soft and it has amazing health benefits to your skin.

You sold yet?

The ingredients to this mask are:

Bentonite clay and apple cider vinegar (or water is just fine as an alternative)

and that is literally it!

Bentonite Clay also know as "Healing Clay" is extracted from volcanic ash. When mixed with liquid the clay creates a electrical charge and draws out toxins (such as heavy metals we build up from eating processed foods and even in the air) from your skin and body. The clay also has other benefits which include:

Contains many minerals 

Heals and regenerates the skin

Treats acne (prevent breakouts and help clean up acne)

Unclogs and shrinks pores 

Prevents blackheads 

Even out skin tone 

When mixing your mask its advised that you use a non metallic bowl and mixing utensil so this can be glass, wood, plastic, just not metal as it can reduce the masks effectivity by binding to the metal. I use a bamboo bowl and a wooden spoon from my kitchen.

One tip I have when using this mask is ignore all natural urges to scrunch your face up and crack your mask. This results in becoming itchy to the point I wanted to take it off however if you don't crack it it doesn't itch at all.  You'll feel it tightening but just let the mask do its magic. I leave the mask on for about 20 minutes but its up to you how long you want to leave it on. you skin may look a bit red after washing the mask off (this happened to me once and redness was minimal)  this is totally normal and goes away in no time. the mask is absolutely suitable for sensitive skin it just advises that you leave it on for a shorter amount of time. 

You can also use bentonite clay in your bath for a detoxing bath or use it in a foot bath. Another great way to use it which I have tried myself is to use it on your armpits this can help draw out the heavy metals that are in your deodorant, which have been known to be a cause of breast cancer. You might want to do the armpit detox just before getting in the bath as cleaning up could get messy. 

You can buy the the clay here

and the apple cider vinegar here

if you want a bamboo bowl similar to mine you can one here

( any wooden bowl will do just fine) 

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MAC PRODUCTS I RECOMMEND BUYING AND NOT BUYING

Hi guys I thought id share with you the mac products I've used and which ones I think are worth buying and which giving a miss.

Mac Eyeshadow

I love the colour and quality of my eyeshadow however I wish it lasted longer the colour I have has a light shimmer to it so I wonder if the matte shadows would last longer I will defiantly give them a try. I would recommend this product however I do feel you may be able to get the same quality somewhere else cheaper. Sorry Mac!

Mac Pigment

Mac pigment is great it lasts ages and is bursting with colour the ONLY down side it as its loose powder it can give you the line on your eyelids where the product gathers. I advise to use a eye primer with this and maybe even mix a drop of eyelash glue into the amount you want to apply to give it extra strength. I would recommend this product.

Mac Lipstick

I love my mac lipstick!!! Im sure everyone thats owned one will agree they're are great quality lipsticks defiantly recommend you add at least one to your make up bag.

Mac Lip Pencil

Mac lip pencils are great they are good quality have great colours and the pencils are quite long so they last a good while. I would recommend this product.

Mac Eyebrows

When I first used this product I loved it. It was good quality and I loved the colour it suited my eyebrows perfectly however it didn't last long at all the amount you get in the applicator is A LOT less than I expected. I stopped buying this as unfortunately I didn't feel it was worth the money for the amount of product you get, over all i recommend the product but not at its current price.

Mac Studio Sculpt Foundation

I found this foundation too thick it felt really heavy on the skin and had kinda of "foundation smell" to it. I don't feel this foundation is good for dry skin and overall I wouldn't recommend this foundation.

Mac Pro Longwear Foundation

I liked the feel of this foundation on my skin I found it complementing to my dry skin I like the coverage it gives and overall would recommend this product.

Mac Prep+Prime Highlighter

I bought this product in the lightest shade however I still didn't find it light enough to get the desired highlighting effect i wanted to achieve. also i feel there are other product on the market that are of the fairly same quality at a cheaper cost.

Mac Stuido Finish Concealer

I found this concealer great its gives excellent coverage it was nice and creamy (how i like my concealers) i feel it is priced fairly for its quality and id defiantly recommend this product.

Mac Make Up Brushes

I havent actually owned any mac brushes but I have used lots (thanks mum) I find their brushes to be good quality no bristles falling out all the time ect however they do come at a price a price. I feel you could defiantly find the same quality somewhere else much cheaper my favourite brushes at the moment are Real Techniques they are great quality, will last long and i feel are reasonably priced. You can buy sets of these brushes a save money.

What are your favourite/worst Mac products?

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SUPER SMOOTHIE RECIPE & ITS HEALTH BENEFITS

Spinach, Apple, Orange, Pear, Yoghurt & Barley Grass Smoothie

1x Apple

1x Orange

1x Pear

2 handfuls of Spinach

3-5 dessert spoons of Yoghurt

1-2 dessert spoons of Barley Grass

Apple juice or Water or Ice for a extra cold smoothie

First wash all of the ingredients before use, then cut them up into chunks ready for blending.

Now add all chopped up ingredients to your blender cup then add the yoghurt, barley grass and your apple juice, water or ice (I used half water half apple juice for this smoothie) .

Now blend all the ingredients together in your blender.  

Here are some of the possible health benefits from each ingredient of this smoothie:

Apple -

Reduce the risk of Alzheimers/Parkinsons/Dementia/Strokes

Prevents Cancer

Decrease the risk of Diabetes

Reduce the risk of Cholesterol

Promotes good heart health 

Helps in the prevention of  Gallstones

Relives Constipation

Neutralise IBS

Control weight

Detoxify your Liver 

Helps in the prevention of Cataracts

Promotes good lung health

Pears -

Helps prevent high blood pressure

Helps prevent Cancer

Lowers Cholesterol

Promotes good colon health

Relives Constipation

Promotes good energy levels in the body

Relives Fever

Boosts immune system

Anti inflammatory effects on the body

Helps in the Prevention of Osteoporosis

Spinach-

Helps prevent cancer

Helps prevent asthma

Lowers blood pressure

Promotes good bone health

Promotes good skin/hair health

Aids constipation

Anti-inflammatory properties

Promotes good brain health

Promotes good eye health

Good source of iron

Orange-

Helps prevent cancer

Helps prevent kidney diseases

Lowers cholesterol

Promotes good heart health

helps fight viral infections

Promotes good eye health

Lowers blood pressure 

Alkalizing effect on the body

Promotes good skin health

Good for diabetics

Bio Live Yoghurt-

Best known for its great effects on the digestive system

Boosts immune system

High levels of calcium

Aids IBS

Lowers blood pressure

Barley Grass -

Anti-oxidant power

Boosts immune system

Helps prevent cancer

Protection from free radicals

Fights addictions and cravings

Alkalizing effects on the body

Rich in Vitamin E, Iron and Zinc

(I have collected this information through my own personal research on the internet)

Hope you all enjoy this recipe and feel the benefits!

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