Tag: wellness

Yuka – Why Am I Putting This On My Body?

On By samanthaIn HEALTHLeave a comment

The other morning I watched my husband roll out of bed and get ready to leave the house in about five minutes. It takes me at least an hour to do the same thing. It started me thinking about the multitude of personal care products that perform part of my morning ritual. Are they really helping me to stay looking young and smelling fresh or do the multitude of chemicals that most of them contain cause me harm? I had recently read in a book about dementia prevention that coated dental floss, a product that I have used every day for thirty five years, contains chemicals, such as Teflon, that can contribute towards cognitive decline.

A friend called me and asked which foundation I use. I told her Estee Lauder Double Wear. She asked if I had the box. No, why was she asking? She said that her daughter had recommended an app called YUKA. The app enables you to scan barcodes for almost all your food and personal hygiene products. Yuka then provides a detailed breakdown of the ingredients and rates the product from 0-100 and uses terms such as Bad, Poor, Good and Excellent. The app then suggests more healthy alternatives. There is no advertising on Yuka and brands cannot pay to have their products recommended, the information the user gets is all derived from independent testing.

Within about thirty seconds of finishing speaking to my friend I had downloaded the app and was frantically scanning everything in sight. I must warn you, it is highly addictive.

Here is how my morning list, including my breakfast, scored. My dental floss had a bar code but wouldn’t scan unfortunately.

  • Marks and Spencer Restoring Hand Wash – Poor
  • Sanex Shower Gel – Good
  • Garnier Vitamin C Body Superfood- Good
  • Garnier Soothing Botanical Cleansing Lotion -Good
  • Coco Mademoiselle Deodorant – Bad
  • Colgate Maximum Cavity Protection Toothpaste -Poor
  • Corsodyl Daily Mouthwash – Bad
  • This Works Perfect Cleavage & neck Serum – Poor
  • John Frieda Pro-Filler Shampoo & Conditioner – Poor
  • Boots No 7 Restore & Renew Day Cream – Bad
  • Chanel Chance Eau Tendre EDT – Good
  • Manicurist Active Shine Illumine & Repare – Excellent
  • Marks and Spencer High Fibre Granola – Excellent
  • Vaseline Vanilla Daydream Lip Therapy – Poor

Now this long list does not even include my make up products. As most cosmetic products are boxed, the bar code does not appear on the product itself . I did scan my new Charlotte Tilbury lip liner which scored 11/100 – Bad. My friend is going to take herself off to John Lewis or somewhere similar and scan the various foundations. YUKA will also suggest alternative products as she does this. She has already switched shampoo to Ogx Thick & Full Collagen shampoo which scored 79/100 and a rating of Excellent. I noticed that Garnier products scored highly so I may try one of their tinted moisturisers. Also, the Seoulsista serum infused masks that I often use both on my face and hands scored as Good. You can buy these in Oliver Bonas along with the Manicurist range of nail products (score, Excellent) . My expensive Chanel deodorant, that I bought by mistake thinking it was my usual body spray, was disappointing and joining this as worst of the bunch was my Boots No 7 moisturiser that scored 0/100, especially annoying as I have just purchased a new jar.

My husband and son have eczema so I have always been careful in my choices when buying personal hygiene products for them but have never given much thought to the chemicals in my own make up, body lotions or shampoos. With, YUKA, it is easy to make more informed decisions about what we are putting in and on our bodies. I am going to take it to the supermarket to tweak my weekly food shop. YUKA is a free app, although a premium version is available, so there is no excuse not to get scanning.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

Tackling Insomnia – Part One

On By samanthaIn HEALTH3 Comments

Happy New Year!

This week I have really battled with insomnia. I tend to go to bed around 10.30pm and am usually asleep by 11pm but have been waking about at around 3am and finding it almost impossible to fall back to sleep. If I do manage to nod back off, I am plagued by the most terrible nightmares, possibly caused by the Propranolol that I take for migraine prevention. The sort of nightmares that stay with you all day. Menopause apparently is also a major culprit when it comes to low quality sleep.

Last night I woke with a migraine after sleeping for four hours and got out of bed to take a Sumitriptan tablet. That was it for the night then, I just lay there trying not to disturb my husband. We have a burglar alarm and, although I know you are suppose to get out of bed and not just lie there trying to sleep, I didn’t want to venture downstairs and risk the beeping waking the rest of my family. Fortunately today is a Saturday and I am not working and I don’t have to drive anywhere because I feel shattered.

My daughter bought me a rather lovely silk sleep mask from Millie & Boo for Christmas. The mask has wonderful reviews with people stating that using it radically improved the quality of their sleep. The mask, which is well made, super soft and a pretty silver grey, arrived beautifully boxed. It fastens with velcro and I have been careful not to secure it too tightly nonetheless I think the slight pressure across the top of my face has contributed to my migraine. Maybe not the solution I have been searching for.

My GP was optimistic that the Utrogestan capsules that I take before bed as part of my HRT routine would help, and for a few months they did, but my insomnia is now back with a vengeance. Once it gets to around 3am I am wide awake and unable to stop the racing thoughts that flood my mind. I start to worry about…well everything. A mistake I made at work in 1989, something daft I said at a coffee morning in 1999, I’m stressing about it at 3am in 2025. Apparently we experience a Cortisol (known as the stress hormone) spike at around this time and this is why early morning waking is so common. I note that my fists are often clenched and I have slept with a sheet over my face since I was a little girl and was frightened of ghosts whispering to me. Both of these things are apparently signs of high stress levels. It has become increasingly clear that one of the first things I need to tackle in 2025 is my insomnia as it is going to start affecting my long term health. In particular, in light of my mum’s Alzheimer’s disease, I am keen to regularly achieve a good night’s sleep to help prevent cognitive decline.

This week I am not going to watch television on my computer before bed which is a habit I have fallen into. I am going to sit in bed and read an actual book, nothing dark or frightening. I do read three or four books a month but it used to be around double that before I discovered the endless entertainment on Netflix . I am also going to try to do some sort of pre-sleep meditation to relax my body, particularly my hands and jaw which is where I seem to store most of my stress and tension. I shall report back.

Wish me luck.

Thank you for reading

Samantha