Blog

By: Dr. Melanie DeCunha

Want to freshen up the air in your home or office, but don’t want to expose yourself to the numerous chemicals found in conventional air fresheners? Try making your own natural air freshener at home!

Conventional air fresheners are known to contain harmful ingredients such as phthalates, formaldehyde, petroleum distillates and VOCs. Exposure to these chemicals can lead to negative health impacts such as hormone or endocrine disorders, allergies, birth defects, and even cancer.

Here are some options you can do at home to make your own air freshener, sans all the toxic chemicals found in most store-bought products!

Ingredients:

• 50-75 drops of your choice of essential oil (try playing around with some mixes to find your favourite blend)
• 2 tsp vodka
• Distilled water
• Spray bottle

Instructions: Combine the essential oil and vodka in the spray bottle. Gradually add water until full. Swirl the bottle gently to mix ingredients and spray throughout your home!

Guests on their way and no time to make an air freshener? Try a stovetop version instead!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 ingredients of your choice (some of my favs listed below)
  • Cut up apple, 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
  • A few sprigs of rosemary with lemon slices
  • A few pine cuttings with 1 tsp of vanilla extract & 5-10 drops of lavender essential oil
• Distilled water

Instructions: Add all ingredients to a pot, bring to a boil then turn down to simmer. Top up water and ingredients as needed when evaporated.

By: Petra Najafee, Registered Psychotherapist

Here’s the last tip in the series, and I’m kind of cheating because this tip isn’t necessarily one you’re going to do at work. But it’s simple, and oh so necessary….sleep! Now, if you work for a very progressive company that has nap rooms and is okay with you taking a snooze in the middle of the day, then go for it. For everyone else, just try to get a bit more sleep at night. Different people require different amounts of sleep. In general, adults require 7 to 9 hours per night. Anything less than 5 hours probably puts you in the sleep deprived category.

Better sleep is connected with lower stress levels during the day. When we get good sleep, we are better equipped to handle the challenges that come our way during the day. Anyone who has taken care of young children knows that when a child hasn’t had enough sleep, they’re much more likely to have a meltdown…frustration, tears, tantrums. Guess what folks? We adults are no different that those children. We’re just more practiced at keeping the tantrums inside our heads…and sometimes, not so much.

In addition to the lower stress levels, better sleep is allows for consolidation of memories and skills acquired throughout the day, and increased creativity. In turn this is going to increase productivity at work. It is also associated with decreased inflammation and better healthy living choices. Once again, the connection between a healthy body and a healthy mind is at play. It can be as simple as turning off the TV a half hour earlier than usual or putting away your book a little earlier.

For those of you who may have trouble falling asleep, try some of our other stress-busting tips before bed. The progressive muscle relaxation and the mindful breathing exercises are really easy ones to do before bed and often help to calm the mind before sleep.

We live in a society that tells us to wear our lack of sleep like a badge of honour. But there is little honour in being short-tempered, or losing focus in a meeting, or walking around tense for half the day because we’re having trouble coping. Instead, let’s honour our bodies and our minds by giving ourselves what we need. And for goodness sake… go to sleep!

Workday Stress-busting tip #4—Smile!