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TOWARDS GOOD SLEEP: BATH-TIME

Wash off any remaining stresses of the day by having a bath before bed, and make it sleep inducing with the help of herbal or aromatherapy preparations. Enjoy your bath as a relaxing treatment; make it warm but not too hot, and give yourself time to soak in the oils or herbs so that you get the full, soothing benefit.

Suitable aromatherapy oils include lavender (used regularly it has the advantage of boosting your immune system, but go easy on it if you are pregnant), camomile and orange blossom (both rather expensive), meadowsweet, geranium and hops. Use no more than four to six drops of oil or oils altogether, using the smaller amount if your skin is very sensitive. Agitate the water so that the oil spreads evenly and reaches your whole body. Allow yourself time to soak, relax and absorb the oil both through your skin and by inhaling the vapour.

Herbs can also be used in the bath by making an extra strong infusion, steeped, strained and poured into your bath water. Lime-flowers are good; so are hops: pour a cup of boiling water over three crushed heads and steep, covered, for ten minutes. You can also use lavender, or a mixture of herbs: fill a muslin bag with the heads and tie it to the hot tap, so that the hot water runs through it. Before getting into the bath, add a strained infusion of the same herbs.

Herbal baths are also soothing for babies. Michael McIntyre says: 'Camomile herb is a very suitable way to get your baby to sleep. You can give your baby a camomile bath. Make a strong tea using an ounce to two pints of water, strain it, and add it to the water in the baby-bath.' And Barbara Griggs quotes the French herbalist Maurice Messegue who 'recalls being put in a bath of Lime Flowers and Leaves as a child when he couldn't sleep — with magical results ..."

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