Beautiful Sleep
Wouldn't it be great if we could sleep like cats or dogs - simply lie down and go to sleep. We all know that we look and feel out best when we get enough sleep. The amount of sleep that is ‘enough’ varies from one person to the next, and can change from time to time for the individual.
I often wake in the night, and have had difficulty in getting enough sleep. This has resulted in feeling tired during the day, and sometimes having a pinched look to my face that leads others to tell me that I look tired. (Why do people tell you – is it supposed to make one feel better?)
There is a wealth of advice on how to get enough sleep; these paragraphs are about what works for me.
I sleep best when I stick to a pattern. Even if I feel that I have not slept very much during the night, I still get up at the same time every morning. It is tempting to stay in bed for another hour or three to ‘catch up’ but the result is often another bad night.
When I do have a day of feeling tired, I try to take a short rest period after lunch. When I was working this consisted of about 15 minutes quiet time. I tried to get away from my desk to a park or the public library. Any place where it is possible to sit quietly provides a mental break from telephone calls and the visual stimulation of a computer terminal.
It is possible to lie down and take a nap at home, but I find that it is important to set an alarm and not sleep for more than 20 minutes. Expert advice says that after 20 minutes the body goes in deep sleep, and that a long nap in the day can make one feel worse.
It helps me to keep to a regular bedtime and have a time of winding down in the evening. In my experience either television or computer viewing makes me feel wide awake, even when I know that I am tired. I try to turn off everything with a screen at least half an hour before it is time to go to bed.
There are various products on the market that are supposed to
promote sleep. The one I have illustrated smells nice, but I am not sure that it makes a huge difference. However, one could use it as part of a bedtime routine to help feel relaxed at the end of the day.
Before going to bed I check my diary for the next day, make a note of things that I need to remember and put out my clothes for the morning. This reduces the possibility of waking in the night and feeling panic stricken that I have forgotten something important.
If I do wake up in the night and think of something that is important, I get out of bed and write myself a note. When this was first suggested to me I resisted the idea for some while, thinking that getting up and putting on the light would make me alert that I would not go back to sleep. In practice I have found that it enables me to get back to sleep more often.
Often I wake in the night for no apparent reason. In the past I would often lie in bed and worry that because I was not asleep that I would not be able to cope with whatever I was scheduled to do the next day. Now I tell myself that I am lying down and resting. I don’t know why this works, but a calm attitude does make me feel better. I feel less tired since I have made the effort to relax.
At some point in my history of disrupted sleep I made the decision to stop complaining about it. I realised that I was frequently telling friends and family that I couldn’t sleep and was always tired, and felt that my insomnia was becoming part of my identity. So I stopped talking about it. I’ve never read any research to suggest that this might help, but I feel that it has helped me.
If you feel that your life is impaired through lack of sleep, I suggest seeking medical advice. It is possible that there is an underlying health issue, or that your doctor could refer you to a specialist.
The most basic hand care
If you can only manage to do one thing to look after your hands, I suggest that you make a habit of using hand cream. This is especially important when the weather is cold. The skin on hands seems to dry out more quickly during the winter months. I don’t know why, but wonder if it might be the contrast between warm centrally heated rooms and the rigours of the weather.
My favourite hand cream is Clarins; Crème Jeunesse des Mains. I usually buy my online from LookFantastic, but this it is available in larger branches of Boots the Chemist as well as many department stores. My skin is dry and I have eczema. The Clarins’ cream absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave a greasy-feeling residue. I’ve tried less expensive creams but they don’t suit me as well as this one.
I do keep a less expensive hand cream next to my kitchen sink. I try to choose one that is inexpensive and without perfume.
About Hand Care– Level 1: Neat and Tidy
When you are drying yourself after a bath or shower, take time to gently push back your cuticles. You could use the edge of the towel, or an orange wood stick. Make sure that all your nails are perfectly clean. If you use a body lotion or cream, massage a bit extra into your hands, taking care to rub some in around each nail, and smooth down the skin on your joints, moving the cream from the tips of your fingers towards your wrists.
Keep some hand cream by your kitchen sink, and use it regularly. During the colder months, you might want to carry a small tube of hand cream in your bag, for use during the day. If you have an office-based job, consider keeping some in your desk drawer, to combat the drying effects of central heating.
Last thing at night, try using cuticle oil, or a specialist product, and then massage in some good hand cream before turning out the light.
Take a few minutes every few days to file your nails, to keep them smooth and snag free, and a uniform length. We’re not saying they should be short or long – that’s up to you – but we do think they should all be more or less the same length.
If you smoke, be aware of the effect of nicotine stains on your fingers and nails, take extra time to cleanse the hands. Here’s a tip that we’ve heard of, but not tried personally: wash the stained area of your fingers with lemon juice, and then rub gently with a pumice stone. Alternatively, mix the lemon juice with salt and lightly scrub. Do this about once a week, but make sure that you are not making your skin sore.
About Hand Care: Level 2 - Polished Appearance
When manicuring and varnishing your nails remember to plan ahead. It will take about half an hour for your nails to be truly dry.
To go beyond ‘neat and tidy’ hands to polished perfection, give yourself a manicure. You will need steady hands plus patience, and ideally the following list of items:
1. Nail file
2. Base Coat (especially advisable for dark colours)
3. Varnish
4. Top Coat (to enable nail varnish to last longer)
5.Quick dry (Optional, and may be part of the top coat.)
6. Have an orange wood stick at hand to correct mistakes with the polish.
Cover your work surface with something that you can throw away if you have a spill – e.g. yesterday’s newspaper.
Here are the basic instructions:
1. Ensure you have carried out basic maintenance. Your nails should be clean with cuticles pushed back. Nails should be filed to an even length with no rough edges.
2. Start by applying a layer of Base Coat. This will even out nails, and provide a slightly sticky surface so that the polish goes on well.
3. Roll the nail polish bottle between your hands to mix it up. A vigorous shaking can create air bubbles that will look like little blisters when you apply the polish. The finished result will quickly chip or peel.
4. Wipe any excess polish from the brush on the inside of the bottleneck. The brush should have just enough polish for one nail.
5. Apply the polish, starting from the base of the nail stroking towards the top. Depending on the width of your nail plate, use two or three strokes to cover the nail. To avoid getting polish on the cuticle, place the brush on the nail about 1/8 of an inch away from the cuticle, then push backwards towards it, stopping just short of the skin. Then stroke upwards towards the nail tip.
6. Apply two thin coats of polish, leaving time for the first coat to dry before applying the second. If you go over the edge of the nail plate, you can use the orange wood stick to take off the extra polish – but be careful not to spoil your other nails in the process.
7. Wait three minutes before applying Top Coat.
8. You may wish to apply a quick dry finish, depending on your choice of Top Coat.
9. Your nails will appear to be dry in a few minutes – but it will be at least 30 minutes before they are thoroughly dry.
It’s easier to keep your nails looking lovely if you have the right tools.
We list here items to help you to maintain your hands and nails. 
Basic maintenance,
1. Orange wood sticks to clean under the tips of your nails. These can also be wrapped in cotton wool to gently push back cuticles. Wind the cotton wool around the stick, like candy floss. This provides a buffer so that you don’t tear the cuticle.
2. Nail clippers and/or curved scissors. Can be used to trim long nails, and to cut back any hang nails. The latter should always be trimmed back. Never attempt to tear them off, as you may make them worse.
3. Nail file. Try to find one with a fine grain, these give a much smoother finish.
4. Hand cream
5. Cuticle oil
To polish your nails, add the following to your kit
1. Base coat may be considered optional, but it does make polish last longer. Also, if you are using a dark colour, it will prevent your nail plate from absorbing colour. You may wish use a formula to strengthen your nails.
2. Nail varnish
3. Top coat ,again, optional, but it also makes the polish stay on longer.
If you use a ‘quick dry’ formula, it can speed up the process.
4. Nail varnish remover and cotton wool . You can purchase cotton pads that are soaked in remover, in a plastic case. This is very good for travelling.
In addition, consider a cuticle remover if you have fast growing cuticles. It may be sufficient to simply push your cuticles back with a towel when you are drying yourself after a bath or shower. We don’t recommend cutting your cuticles.because their purpose is to protect the area between your skin and nails from infection.
If you are fanatical about nails, you could buy even more kit. Check out the relevant section next time you visit a large branch of a chemist or drug store.
There is a huge choice of products for specific nail problems. For advice, we suggest having a professional manicure. Then you can discuss this issue with a trained person. If you are short of funds, you may live near a college that trains beauty therapists. Colleges often have training salons, where you can have inexpensive treatments by students under the supervision of fully qualified tutors.
Choose your Polish
High Gloss Glamour
Nothing beats dark nails to add a touch of glamour to your look. This autumn there are plenty of tempting shades on offer.
Our pick of the crop are shown above. Here are the details (from left to right):
Me Me Me by Rococo, £11.50 from SpaceNK
A to Z-urich by OPI £9.95 from Lookfantastic
Antique Rose by Essie from perfectnails.uk
Passion by Leighton Denny £11.00 from Helen Marks
Blowing Raspberries by butter LONDON £10.00 from Lookfantastic
The down side to dark nail colours is that they are high maintenance; one chip and you look unkempt. If you have not got the time or the money for regular manicures and constant touch ups, consider neutral or pale nail colour.
The pretty pastels that we show below are as follows (from left to right):
Stripped Naked by Jessica £8.25 from Lookfantastic 
Butterfly Wings by Leighton Denny £11.00 from Helen Marks
Resist & Shine no 102 by L’Oreal £4.91 from Chemistdirect
Basil Street by Nails Inc £10.50 from Debenhams
Glitzerland by OPI £9.95 from Lookfantastic
Low key elegance
Budget Beauty - Massage Treat
In the distant past, I had a lovely massage at a college local to me. I decided to repeat the experience, albeit at a different location. I found a training college with a beauty department from an internet search and booked my appointment.
The Experience.
There was a specific parking area for the beauty department, which was helpful. This was a college site over a fairly large area, the signs weren’t brilliant and it took me a few minutes to identify the correct door. Once that major challenge was over, I could relax.
I was welcomed at reception by the lecturer supervising who introduced me to my student. The person I was booked with, we will call her Rachel for confidentiality, was in her final term. This meant that she was one of the more experienced students and almost qualified.
Rachel was friendly and quietly assured. She took a medical history, as is usual with a treatment, then mixed up my aromatherapy oils for the massage. Rachel remembered that I liked lighter fragrances and used these in her mix.
The massage was professional and really relaxing. I had remembered to wear ‘respectable’ undies for it and I could forget that she had had to leave the curtain around the massage couch open a little (obviously a necessary safety precaution for a student). My feet have been quite sore lately from many hours standing on cold hall floors with my work. Rachel was also trained in reflexology and spent some time working on my tootsies for which I was very grateful.
The whole massage was wonderful. It did take longer than a usual massage but I didn’t mind at all as Rachel was taking a great deal of care and we had been warned on booking that treatments would be a little longer than at a commercial salon. I was relaxed for the rest of the day, so much so that it was difficult to teach my Pilates classes that evening but in a lovely ‘I just want to go to sleep’ way.
Having been a Primary School Teacher for many years, I am excellent at ignoring noise around me when required and could switch off to relax. This was a college with students in their teens around. Although everyone made an effort to speak quietly, quite a bit of chat could be heard, including the necessary conversations between student therapists and clients. The area was a large open room with just curtains around the couches. The curtains were rather splattered with oils in places, the blind at my window didn’t pull down and massage couches with breathing holes for laying down on your front were in short supply. An arrangement of towels sufficed. These problems were probably due to college budgets –or lack of. Everything else appeared clean and in working order.
The department was friendly and professional; my student therapist was skilled and could have worked in any salon. The surroundings were not as relaxing as in a salon, but this cannot be expected in a college. Care had been taken to re-create the salon experience as much as possible with a designated reception area, a waiting area and flowers in the ladies.
The cost of my aromatherapy massage, which lasted for around ninety minutes, was just £12.00.
Five stars for value.
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