Welcome to Tiny Habits, HuffPost Canada’s (almost) daily guide to helping you pick up an easy, everyday ritual that can make your life a bit better, in a small but significant way.
Canadians are stressed out, anxious, and are feeling disconnected from each other. Every Monday through Friday, we’ll share a tiny tip to help you feel good. We’ve got your back.
Today’s Tiny Habit: Spraying scent in a room.
For whenever you’re feeling: Like your mood needs a little lift.
What it is: The days are getting shorter, darker, and colder, and inevitably, our mood suffers. And while there are many ways to lift our spirits during the winter months, one simple way to do so is to spray a pleasant scent — whether it’s via a fragrance or an essential oil — in a room where you spend a lot of time.
How it can help: “Research has shown that certain scents can change your mind-set and promote specific behaviour,” Pamela Dalton, the principal investigator at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Pennsylvania, told Health.com.
Lavender, for example, has been shown to lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, jasmine has been shown to calm nerves, and verbena and mint can boost your mood and energy levels.
If you’re trying to decide between an essential oil and a fragrance, you may want to try an essential oil spray, not only because they’re usually cheaper than department store fragrances, but you can also make them at home and they have other benefits aside from lifting your mood.
“Essential oils have anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and using them in an environment where there are a lot of people can help to keep germs at bay,” Beverley Hawkins, owner of the Vancouver-based West Coast Institute of Aromatherapy, told Entrepreneur.com.
Hawkins suggests using lemon, which is great for when you’re feeling anxious or angry as it has calming properties, and rosemary, which can fight physical exhaustion and mental fatigue.
″[Rosemary] is excellent to use in the mornings when one needs a bit of help getting going,” said Hawkins.
Where you can do it: Try it at home in a room where you spend a lot of time. Maybe it’s your bedroom; spritz your favourite scent right when you wake up so you can start your day on a positive note.
How it makes us feel: Relaxed, calm.
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And that’s your Tiny Habit of the day.
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