Holistic helpers for the festive season

You had a few too many the night before, but with your in-laws arriving in a few hours, your over-excited toddler climbing the walls and a pile of presents still to wrap, you have no time to indulge in feeling fragile or hiding under the duvet.  If you need to get back to feeling your best fast, here’s our holistic step-by-step guide to help you regain your festive sparkle.
Whilst the medicine cabinet is often our first port of call to tackle a hangover, essential oils, combined with other holistic methods, can help you recalibrate and relax via scent, stretching and sipping tea.  With a comprehensive arsenal of 65 essential oils, we're here to provide you with some easy-to-use natural remedies, be it for relieving headaches, tackling nausea or simply aiding that get-up-and-go feeling when you need an extra boost.

Aroma Hit

Perfect for dealing with intense nausea and relieving headaches, Peppermint essential oil will be your saving grace.

• Headache blend: For this, you need look no further than Lavender and Peppermint essential oil.  By no means a cure, inhalation of these oils can reduce symptoms, duration, or severity of headaches. A few drops into a diffuser and or onto a tissue will soon leave you feeling brighter and ready to tackle the day ahead.
• Nausea blend: 2 drops of Cypress, 2 drops of Grapefruit and 1 drop of Peppermint in 10mls of Jojoba Oil, massaged in circular movements into the abdomen, will help ease nausea and gently remove toxins after a heavy night.
• Spring in your step blend: Add a few drops of Lime, Grapefruit and Orange onto a pocket tissue and inhale at any moment to keep you feeling positive.

Drink

No, we don’t mean hair of the dog! Drinking plenty of water is an obvious tip, but for a good reason, it works. Alcohol is a diuretic, so it drains your body of water and dehydrates you.  If you need something more, try coconut water or a rehydration drink to help restore your hydration levels.  Or if a trip to the shops is too much effort, you can easily make your own. Dissolve a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt in a pint of water and sip throughout the morning.

Eat well

Resist cravings – you think you need a sugary or salty fix but don’t; they will only add to your already unbalanced blood sugar levels. Instead, satisfy your cravings naturally by choosing fresh fruit for its vitamin and water content, or blend yourself a delicious fruit and yogurt smoothie.
A lesser-known hangover hero is asparagus! Steam this delicious vegetable before or after a night on the town to help break down toxins. Scientists in Korea recently discovered that a product found in the shoots and leaves of asparagus boosted levels of the enzymes Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase, which help digest alcohol.

Herbal infusion

For a dose of sunshine when you’re feeling less than perfect, Higher Living Morning Mojo is pure morning magic. The lively blend of green tea, cocoa peel, green coffee and ginseng will help you have you feeling as good as new in no time.

Stretch

Gentle yoga when you’re feeling delicate can help in many ways.  Our yoga expert, Sarah Eckersley, recommends the Child’s Pose to help ease a headache.  This beautifully grounding posture helps drain the lower half of the body of any toxins and boosts blood flow to the head. Not only will it help to settle the body, but it also calms the mind and is perfect if your headache is really limiting your movement.