Rest, relax restore
I don’t know about you but I always feel a sense of excitement when the first frost covers the ground, transforming the land into a glittering wonder. It’s a signal that change is in the air, the heralding in of a new season and all the wonderful things that it brings.
There’s the opportunity to layer up with coats, scarves and boots for a brisk walk in nature.
Or, on rainy days, to hole up in a comfortable corner with a good book or spend time on a satisfying craft project. And with that in mind, we’ve added more craft pages to this issue (see pages 68 to 77).
Winter is a time when we hunker down and enjoy our homes; cooking up a storm in the kitchen, enjoying cosy nights in with friends and a bottle of red wine, or catching up on well-needed rest and snuggling under the covers on weekends (see pages 64 to 67 for tips on how to turn your bedroom into a sanctuary). Which brings me to the topic of sleep and its importance to our health and wellbeing.
When we’re driving towards a goal and striving to meet a deadline it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking sleep is for sissies and that time is too precious to waste. I admit I’ve often pushed myself to the extremes of sleep deprivation in pursuit of perfection of whatever I was working on at the time. I never attributed my yoyo-ing weight to not getting enough sleep until I joined a fitness programme at Auckland running clinic GetRunning. One of the things we had to do was note down the number of hours of sleep we’d had each night (ideally seven or eight). Sleep was given as much importance as the exercise we were prescribed as well as the water we drank and what we ate. It was a lightbulb moment as I realised it was where I had been going wrong all these years. Sure, we all know sleep is good for you but it’s not often we investigate the ‘why’ as we charge about living our busy lives. We have a tendency to think we are invincible until things begin to go pear-shaped.
So we’ve dedicated this issue to sleep and the restoration that it brings for the mind and body - from wonderful ways to create beautiful bedroom spaces to tips for getting a better sleep (pages 30 to 34) and how sleep can help beat adrenal fatigue (page 107). Sweet dreams!