Make the Night Your Own: How to Regain Rest and Relaxation

Interview with Christian Lüke
Director R&D / Marketing, Düllberg Konzentra

Exhaustion is omnipresent today. We don’t have to accept this, says Christian Lüke from the fragrance house Düllberg Konzentra - and presents ideas on how we can recapture the relaxation we desire. The night and the right fragrance play a vital role here.

Christian Lüke, when developing fragrance and product concepts, you regularly respond to current and upcoming trends. What lies behind your “Night Rituals”?

Night Rituals is a product concept that, like many of our concepts, is based on people’s specific needs and wishes - this time focussing on a deficit: we are living in a time that is often referred to as “the great exhaustion”. Scientists and psychologists use this term to describe a collective feeling of tiredness and fatigue that is prevalent and indeed increasing in modern society. Symptoms of this global exhaustion are reflected in buzzwords and workplace trends such as “quiet quitting”, “coffee badging”, “bare minimum Mondays” and “great resignation”.

What is the cause of this exhaustion?

Many factors – with the work environment playing a major role alongside the new world of leisure. If we constantly prioritise the needs of the economy over basic human needs, it’s not good for us. Stress at work, but also stress caused by the abundance of menacing external developments - climate crisis, wars, violence in words and deeds, inflation - contribute to a subjective feeling of helplessness. Financial insecurity exacerbates these problems. Working from home can also blur the boundaries between work and private life; increased screen time and phenomena such as doomscrolling - the endless reading of bad news – aggravate this situation. Fatigue has reached unprecedented levels - and the need for support in switching off and cultivating regular and healthier sleep behaviour is growing accordingly.

What does such support actually look like?

Our trend concept TOTAL RELAX provides individuals with solutions that facilitate the transition from the restlessness of daily life to a peaceful state. Through nightly rituals and calming practices with matching fragrances from our house, this trend paves the way to restful calm and deep sleep and enable people to relax.

Which specific target group does this appeal to?

We have identified and focussed on the “restless dreamers”: they travel a lot, work and play hard, juggle several jobs and projects at the same time with a relentless entrepreneurial spirit. They manage the balancing act between a demanding career and family commitments. They are multi-taskers but find it difficult to relax and switch off. Their lifestyle leads to a lack of sleep. But: they are aware of the emotional impact of all this, crave balance and restful sleep, seek calm and restorative experiences as well as scents, and use sensory or even spiritual aids.

What are your approaches and specific activities in this context?

The focus is on activities that induce a state that prepares us for deep sleep - a fragrant bath before bed, relaxing tea rituals, even gardening at night: it opens the senses to a completely different world. If it is too hot during the day, gardening at night becomes a regular activity. The peaceful sounds of a nocturnal garden and the scents of night-blooming flowers can induce a dreamy state and are perfect for a bedtime ritual. We use flowers and plants that support the night-time ritual, such as the Jilungin tea plant, the queen of the night or valerian. Plants and herbs that are harvested at dusk are also an inspiration for us. We recognise that people want to find peace and quiet. We want to support them in this.


DÜLLBERG KONZENTRA
www.duellberg-konzentra.de

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