Elle talks to The Daily Mail about her top tips for a peaceful night's sleep.
It's called beauty rest for reason. When we sleep, our bodies have time to recharge and adequately repair any damage we've done throughout the day - damage that can make us look older and feel less than our best.
So when supermodel Elle Macpherson, 52, found herself having trouble falling asleep, she knew she needed to do something about it.
'With the busy world that we live in, it can be difficult to get a good night sleep as often as we need to,' she said. 'We are constantly on the go and multi-tasking, and this constant moving can interfere with our sleep.'
Elle turned to her longtime nutritionist Simone Laubsher, Ph.D, to see if there was a natural remedy that could help. 'I used to find it difficult to unwind at the end of the day, to stop my mind racing as I lay in bed trying to get to sleep,' Elle told us. 'So I spoke to Dr. Laubsher and asked her if we could create a calming bedtime tea.'
From there, Elle's two new products in her WelleCo lifestyle brand were born: THE SUPER ELIXIR SLEEP WELLE Fortified Calming Tea and SLEEP WELLE Calming Pillow Mist.
The super ingredient in the tea is Valerian root, a common herbal remedy for insomnia, which Elle refers to as 'nature's Valium'. It's combined with hops, a flower extract said to calm anxiety and skullcap, another herb that is often used to treat headaches, insomnia and anxiety.
According to the National Institutes of Health, 'Valerian has been used as a medicinal herb since at least the time of ancient Greece and Rome. Its therapeutic uses were described by Hippocrates, and in the 2nd century, Galen prescribed Valerian for insomnia.'
And while much of the evidence from clinical studies of Valerian on sleep disorders is inconclusive, many participants given the herbal supplement reported falling asleep faster and sleeping better than they usually did, as compared to the people who were given a placebo. Suffice to say, there's definitely something to it.
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'The ritual of making a tea helps me wind down before bed,' Elle said. 'I sip this in warm water and use the blend of calming essential oils combined in a sleep spray at night and when I fly.'
The Australian businesswoman is a big believer in rituals, telling us she sticks to a regular nighttime routine that includes using lavender oil in the shower and on her pulse points and always putting her phone away at least 30 minutes before bed.
Dr. Laubsher also recommended that Elle do a ‘brain dump’ before she goes to bed.
'Write two headings on a piece of paper: "things I can change" and on the other side "things I can’t change,"' she said. 'We often spend hours lying awake at night worrying about things that are totally out of our control. This is an effective exercise to help relieve tension.'
Exercise, of course, is also key. The incredibly fit model, sometimes referred to as The Body, uses yoga to help clear her mind before bed. 'Often I do a five-minute yoga pose, placing my legs up the wall, which is super effective and also good for circulation,' she explained.
Read more at The Daily Mail.