Vintage Savoir Faire

I’ve been staring at my screen for 30 minutes, willing myself to write and coming up blank.  I can’t think of anything vaguely interesting to share with you, or any reason why you would want to read what I’m writing.

This is in stark contrast to my normal mode of life: an early morning wake-up bursting with ideas, followed by a full weekend in the kitchen making projects, notepad at the ready to capture ideas as they strike, and still not enough time to share all my exciting new discoveries with you!

So what’s the difference this time?

Jet lag.

I recently spent a week in the USA, and now several days later I’m sort-of adjusted back to London time… but mentally I’m just not here.  And worst of all, I’m heading back to the US again next weekend, so will go through this fun process yet again … two more times!

The more I travel, the more I realize that jet lag doesn’t just affect the quality of my sleep – it seems to throw off my entire day.  My normal morning creativeness has disappeared, and I feel mentally dull.  I need some kitchen remedies ASAP!

Here’s the plan.  I’m going to use myself as guinea pig and start testing some simple home remedies for jet lag.  Much like The Sleep Experiment, this isn’t scientific, but I really need some help!

What are your favorite remedies, tips & tricks for jet lag?  Leave them in the comments, by email or on twitter or facebook. 

Ready? Let’s get started…

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One of my favorite results to come out of the Sleep Experiment so far is quick and easy, completely free, and doesn’t require specialty ingredients.

What is this wonder remedy?  Lighting.

In great-grandma’s day, we woke up with the sunrise.  We went to bed when it got dark.  In the summer, we stayed awake later (to work in the garden!), in the winter, we sat around the fire and went to bed early.

Daily cycles like these were the norm for thousands of years.  And then we invented electricity.  And suddenly bright lights, computer screens, laptops, iPads, blackberries, and televisions made our body completely confused.

Now, I love technology as much as (or probably more than) the next girl.  But it can get a bit out of control.  When the last thing I do at night is check my email on my iPhone (oh, and check the progress on a few of my game apps), I know it has gone too far.

Because even if I’m relaxed after my warm lavender bath and chamomile tea – when I just do one last check of my email, we all know what happens.  75% of the time that one last little peek at email uncovers a crisis at work, or warrants just a quick reply, and suddenly your brain is back in overdrive again, making your to-do list for the next day.  Not the best mental state to fall asleep!

So the initial, overwhelmingly positive, results from the sleep study show that adjusting your lighting and screen time has a HUGE impact on your quality of sleep.  Curious to try it yourself?  Read on.

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Better sleep without medication!

That’s something a lot of us could use this time of year.  Or any time of year, really.

You know the feeling – laying awake in bed, willing yourself to fall asleep … then glancing at the clock and getting that panicky feeling “well if I fall asleep now I can get a good 5 hours…”, then 4 hours, then… Followed by the painful next day trying to be alert when you’re really exhausted!

I hear this complaint from so many people.  SO MANY.  If you don’t struggle with sleep, consider yourself very lucky.  At least in my 30′ish female demographic, sleep troubles are rampant.  (Although unfortunately I can’t help you if the cause of your sleep deficit is a small child… that is another blog altogether!)

Here at Vintage Savoir Faire we like to be healthy and balanced.  And we like low-cost, handmade solutions that really work.  So when faced with repeated questions about home remedies for better sleep – I took action and started The Sleep Experiment.  This 2 week experiment lets you test remedies at home and report back the results which I’ll share here.  These are just preliminary results – so if you have trouble sleeping some nights, sign up today!

And now onto the results.  Remember, the sleep experiment isn’t scientific, it’s just interested readers testing remedies and sharing their experiences.  So if you’re feeling curious about a remedy, give it a try yourself (and then report back the results to us!)

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