Regular travel, especially in different time zones, can wreck havoc with our circadian rhythm and often goes hand in hand with lack of a consistent sleep schedule. Read more about the science behind why sleep plus pillow spray is the product to help you restore sleep patterns and help you get better quality sleep on-the-go.

Stay asleep - clinically proven
 
Specially formulated for those who wake often in the night sleep plus pillow spray contains an encapsulated version of our Deep Sleep functional fragrance proven through brain imaging to activate areas of the brain associated with emotion, pleasure and calmness with the potential to bring the mind into a pre-disposition towards sleep.1
 
Sleep plus pillow spray has also been tested through independent user studies against a placebo to show that our innovative encapsulation delivery system helps to keep people in sleep, specifically REM sleep.
 
In our user studies we found that:
94% had a less disturbed sleep*
94% felt their sleep quality improved*
85% felt less anxious about trying to get to sleep*
91% felt less tired during the day*
 
*In a 7 day user study of 100 subjects (aged 18+) with self-diagnosed sleep issues compared to a placebo.
 
 
What is encapsulation?
 
Encapsulation is a process by which very tiny droplets or particles of liquid or solid material are surrounded or coated within a continuous film of polymeric material.1 In this case, the Deep Sleep functional fragrance has been encapsulated. The natural, vegan microencapsulate breaks when the user tosses and turns and releases bursts of fragrance throughout the night to keep you asleep.
 
Fragrance can perform an important role in memory consolidation whilst we sleep. Studies have suggested that odours smelt during the learning or encoding phase of memory processing, which are then presented during sleep can aid memory consolidation.2 Fragrance can thus be an interesting tool to optimise learning whilst we sleep.
 
[1.] 1.Perinelli, D. R., Palmieri, G. F., Cespi, M., & Bonacucina, G. (2020). Encapsulation of Flavours and Fragrances into Polymeric Capsules and Cyclodextrins Inclusion Complexes: An Update. In Molecules (Vol. 25, Issue 24).
[2]. Neumann, F., Oberhauser, V. & Kornmeier, J. How odor cues help to optimize learning during sleep in a real life-setting. Sci Rep 10, 1227 (2020). 
The Gut Clock?
 
Circadian rhythm and nutrition are closely linked, this circadian timing of food (chrononutrition) and its disruption impacts not only the basic gastrointestinal function but also on additional biological processes such as the production of melatonin. The feeling of hunger and fullness is modulated by two major hormones regulating feeding behaviour, Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin, a stomach-derived peptide, indicates when to eat – stimulating appetite and feeding behaviour, while Leptin tells you when to stop eating – giving the feeling of satiety. Following sleep deprivation, Ghrelin is increased while Leptin is reduced. This increase in Ghrelin is one of the reasons you can start to feel hungry and have a tendency to overeat when sleep deprived. This overeating is often of foods that are not the most beneficial for your gut microbiome (high in salt, sugar & processed) which over time can have a detrimental impact on your mental health as you disrupt your guts microbiome.1,2,3,4
 
 

 

The link between gut and brain, we are coming to understand, is one of growing importance. This gut-brain axis (via the vagus nerve) over the last 15 years has been discovered to control more than just communication of hunger and fullness but a complex, two way link, between the guts microbiota and our brain.5,6
The microbiota and the brain communicate with each other via various additional routes including the immune system, tryptophan metabolism and the enteric nervous system. Each of these routes involves chemicals produced by the microbiomes microbial metabolites such as human neurotransmitters. It has also been shown that the microbiome can consume and potentially react to neurotransmitters produced by the human host. This production and consumption of neurotransmitters by the gut microbiome strongly suggest that good gut health is intrinsically linked to good mental health.7,8,9

Many factors can influence microbiota composition in early life, including infection, mode of birth delivery, use of antibiotic medications, the nature of nutritional provision, environmental stressors, and host genetics. At the other extreme of life, microbial diversity diminishes with aging. Stress, in particular, can significantly impact the microbiota-gut-brain axis at all stages of life.5,10

All of this means it is vitally important to ensure you help support this microbiome in not only eating a well balanced diet but at the correct time with your circadian rhythm.
 
[1] Morin, V., Hozer, F., & Costemale-Lacoste, J. F. (2018). The effects of ghrelin on sleep, appetite, and memory, and its possible role in depression: A review of the literature. Encephale, 44(3).
[2]. Broussard, J. L., Kilkus, J. M., Delebecque, F., Abraham, V., Day, A., Whitmore, H. R., & Tasali, E. (2016). Elevated ghrelin predicts food intake during experimental sleep restriction. Obesity, 24(1).
[3]. Steiger, A., Dresler, M., Schüssler, P., & Kluge, M. (2011). Ghrelin in mental health, sleep, memory. In Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology (Vol. 340, Issue 1).
[4]. Kun, X., Cai Hong, H., & Subramanian, P. (2019). Melatonin and sleep. In Biological Rhythm Research (Vol. 50, Issue 3).
[5]. Blask, D. E. (2009). Melatonin, sleep disturbance and cancer risk. In Sleep Medicine Reviews (Vol. 13, Issue 4).
[6]. Xie, Z., Chen, F., Li, W. A., Geng, X., Li, C., Meng, X., Feng, Y., Liu, W., & Yu, F. (2017). A review of sleep disorders and melatonin. In Neurological Research (Vol. 39, Issue 6).
[7]. Strandwitz, P. (2018). Neurotransmitter modulation by the gut microbiota. In Brain Research (Vol. 1693).
[8]. Malagelada, J. R. (2020). The Brain-Gut Team. Digestive Diseases, 38(4).  
[9]. Allen, A. P., Dinan, T. G., Clarke, G., & Cryan, J. F. (2017). A psychology of the human brain–gut–microbiome axis. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(4).
[10]. Cryan, J. F., O’riordan, K. J., Cowan, C. S. M., Sandhu, K. v., Bastiaanssen, T. F. S., Boehme, M., Codagnone, M. G., Cussotto, S., Fulling, C., Golubeva, A. v., Guzzetta, K. E., Jaggar, M., Long-Smith, C. M., Lyte, J. M., Martin, J. A., Molinero-Perez, A., Moloney, G., Morelli, E., Morillas, E., … Dinan, T. G. (2019). The microbiota-gut-brain axis. Physiological Reviews, 99(4).

 

Let there be light
 
Light is essential for humans; it adjusts the circadian rhythm and impact on many physiological and behavioural activities such as sleep, mood, neuro-endocrine function and cognition. Increased daytime light improves alertness, mood, performance and sleep and decreased light exposure in the evening and at night can promote sleep. It is essential to keep some regularity in the intensity, timing and length of light exposure in order to not alter the biological rhythms with negative impact on sleep, health, cognition and judgments.1,2 
 
It is thought to be important to ensure you are exposed to different wavelengths and intensities of light throughout the day to help maintain your circadian rhythm. One of the key moments is within the first 2 hours of waking, aim to get natural light into your eyes, without sunglasses, and don't look directly into the sun. The amount of time depends on cloud cover, it should be between 10-20 minutes. This triggers the timed release of a healthy level of cortisol into your system which acts as a signal to your body to wake-up boosting focus and alertness throughout the day. 3,4,5     
 
Modern humans are more often exposed to artificial light – resulting in less light during the day, while electric lightning during the night reduces or even removes darkness. The direction of light is also important as overhead lighting can activate receptor pigments (melanopsin etc.) located in the bottom of the eye de-synchronising the circadian rhythm. Late evening light exposure inhibits melatonin release, reduces sleepiness and delays the circadian clock. Even low levels of light in the sleeping environment have been associated to impaired sleep and metabolic dysfunctions. 3,4
 
Light is captured in the eye by photopigments. One of these pigments, melanopsin, is sensitive to a portion of the light spectrum, peaking in the blue colour. When melanopsin is activated it conveys information to the master biological clock in the brain (the suprachiasmatic nucleus), synchronizing circadian rhythms and regulating melatonin release. Melanopsin receptors have their own circadian rhythm they are particularly sensitive during evening and nighttime hours – explaining why exposure to even small amounts of blue light at night can have an important effect in destabilizing the circadian system. Increases in LED lightning in streets and buildings (sometimes more than 50% in some European cities) with increased blue light radiation increases suppression of melatonin regulating sleep.1,2,3,4,6 
 
Red light therapy is a term that uses both red light, with a wavelength of 600-700nm, and near infrared (NIR) that has a wavelength of 700 to 1,100nm. Both of these bands of wavelength are thought to act upon the mitochondria to stimulate ATP (the energy molecule) production. Although this would seem counter to sleep, red and NIR light has been shown to increase the production of melatonin outside of its traditional synthesis within the pineal gland. It is thought that this is related to melatonin's role in helping to protect the mitochondria from radical oxygen species.1,2
 
Red light has also been shown to help reset the circadian rhythm alongside its ability to increase melatonin synthesis and promote sleep.3,4
 
 
[1.] Yin, J., Julius, A. A., & Wen, J. T. (2021). Optimization of light exposure and sleep schedule for circadian rhythm entrainment. PLoS ONE, 16(6 June). 
[2.] Böhmer, M. N., Hamers, P. C. M., Bindels, P. J. E., Oppewal, A., van Someren, E. J. W., & Festen, D. A. M. (2021). Are we still in the dark? A systematic review on personal daily light exposure, sleep-wake rhythm, and mood in healthy adults from the general population. In Sleep Health (Vol. 7, Issue 5).
[3.] Figueiro, M. G., Steverson, B., Heerwagen, J., Kampschroer, K., Hunter, C. M., Gonzales, K., Plitnick, B., & Rea, M. S. (2017). The impact of daytime light exposures on sleep and mood in office workers. Sleep Health, 3(3). 
[4.] Marqueze, E. C., Vasconcelos, S., Garefelt, J., Skene, D. J., Moreno, C. R., & Lowden, A. (2015). Natural light exposure, sleep and depression among day workers and shiftworkers at Arctic and Equatorial Latitudes. PLoS ONE, 10(4).
[5.] Mason, I. C., Grimaldi, D., Reid, K. J., Warlick, C. D., Malkani, R. G., Abbott, S. M., & Zee, P. C. (2022). Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(12). 
[6.] Preciado, O. U., Issolio, L. A., Manzano, E., Colombo, E., & Barrionuevo, P. A. (2018). Melanopsin excitation in conditions of natural and artificial lighting. Anales de La Asociacion Fisica Argentina, 29(Especial InVision).
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