Liz Earle's seasonal stress-busters
How will Liz Earle be spending Christmas? Her new Liz Earle Wellbeing App gives a pretty good clue: eating delicious food, sipping botanical cocktails, lots of family singing... But as she shares in this fab new magazine (which launched yesterday) and is packed with all sorts of seasonal recipes and tips, Christmas can actually be really stressful. So here - exclusively shared with Beauty Bible from Liz Earle Wellbeing - is how she 'busts' that...
'However festive we want to be feeling, the stress and strain of juggling work, family and festivities can easily overwhelm. Book in a bit of ‘me-time’ to redress the balance – even if it’s only a few moments of peace and quiet in the bathroom. Here are six steps to super-fast mind and body de-stress…
1 Lock the bathroom door, dim the lighting, and put a match to a few candles. Run a bath full of bubbles and retire with the radio tuned to your favourite show. Simple but effective.
2 Constant rushing around often means we forget to breathe properly. Stop. Take a moment to unhook your shoulders from your ears, sit up straight, take a deep breath from your abdomen and slowly exhale. Just 10 deep, slow breaths (in through the nose, out through the mouth) will re-oxygenate the blood and instantly re-energise the body.
3 Our sense of smell has a powerful effect on our moods and emotion. Linked to the limbic system in the brain, smelling certain aromas can change how we feel. Lavender is clinically proven to slow the mind and encourage sleep, while floral and citrus aromas encourage cheerfulness and happy brain chemicals. Surround yourself with these uplifting scents with a few drops of essential oil in the bath or a naturally fragranced room diffuser.
4 When filling your social festive calendar with commitments, book a date with yourself. Make it an 8 p.m. early night with a mug of tea, a great book and a hot water bottle. Bliss.
5 Make your skincare work harder for you at this busy time. I mix my Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser with a little Brightening Treatment Mask for an instant beauty boost night and morning. It really works. I also keep my bottle of Liz Earle Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion in the fridge, ready-chilled to make cotton wool compresses to relieve under-eye dark shadows and puffiness. Splashing around the eye area with a basin filled with icy cold water works wonders to put a sparkle back into the eyes too.
6 Our neck and scalp can store tension, leading to headaches and irritability. Try tipping your head upside down and giving your scalp a really good fingertip massage. Concentrate on any tense, sore spots to help release stress and re-energise the mind.
Liz Earle Wellbeing magazine is available by subscription only for £2.99 ($4.99) per issue or £9.99 ($13.99) for 4 issues per year via Zinio (for all devices), Apple iTunes (for iPhones and iPads only) and Amazon (for Kindle Fire) newsstands.
