Cork business woman Peigín CrowleyThe importance of good daily habits

Peigín Crowley is on a mission to get women to bed early.

The entrepreneur, founder of global luxury spa brand Ground, and all round rock of sense, says sleep is the most important thing we can do to ‘repair and reset’.

And interestingly, the mum-of-two says that what we do by day will determine how we’ll sleep at night.

“You have to seduce sleep in,” says Peigín.

Among her tips to get a better night’s sleep is to take a warm bath, which actually helps reduce body temperature needed to sleep soundly, and to get as much early daylight as you can.

I take a lot of my calls outside in the garden when I can. As often as I can, I’m in bed by 9.30pm and I’m asleep by 10. 

"Generally, I’m up by 6am, and I could have a full day’s work done by 11am! All my energy is in the morning – I can’t put my mind to anything after 3.30pm!” said the Ovens woman, who is urging women to put ‘just being’ on our to-do list and make it a non-negotiable part of our routine if we want to live long and healthy lives.

Peigín’s story is a well-told one: when the pandemic hit, the award-winning spa consultant was engaged to design two spa projects in new hotel builds which, like everything else, was put on hold.

At the same time, aged 42, she was experiencing peri-menopausal symptoms like anxiety and poor gut health.

“It all got me thinking and researching and educating myself,” she said.

“The result was Ground, which is all about finding that inner balance and building resilience. It launched at a time when the world needed it most, and we really understood the equity of sleep, so the timing was right,” she said.

That’s Peigín being more than a bit modest: she’s highly regarded in the spa industry in Ireland and overseas so any product she created was going to come with strong credentials.

And while her premium products are available in spas in some of the world’s leading hotel groups, including Bulgari, Four Seasons anf Rosewood, her ethos is very much about inclusivity.

For that reason, she puts a huge emphasis on training therapists to be able to provide cancer patients with treatments, something she’s highlighting during October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

We’ve been doing this for a while. I could see so many cancer patients, those having chemo, being turned away from spas, even if they had a note from their doctor.

“They were being excluded because of insurance reasons so we had to right that. So we educate therapists on how to work with people who might have scar tissue, someone who may have an infection in their nails from chemo, irritation on scalp, right down to details like their position on the bed.”

With that in mind, Peigín has also created a special range of dermatologically-tested products for cancer patients called Barróg (the Irish translation of ‘the hug’).

“This is a collection of heartfelt products that were carefully created to support those going through cancer, soothing and comforting relief at a time where self-care is needed most.”

Peigín wants to bring home to women, regardless of where they are in their life, that self-care is about preventative care.

“We need to be thinking about health span rather than life span, working on daily habits like better eating, sleeping and moving for longevity.

“Small changes in our daily habits can create incredible results, so as well as recognising red flags like burn-out, we should also try building green flags, like resilience,” she said.

She’s always educating herself, and what she doesn’t know about gut health isn’t worth talking about.

“So our primary brain, our ‘doing’ brain, is our head and we need that to kick in to get up, work, pay our mortgage,” Peigín explained.

Our second brain is our gut, our ‘being’ brain, and it’s just as powerful and intelligent, managing rest and digest, and how it communicates to the brain depends on our wellbeing.

“We need to listen and honour our gut, it has a deep connection to our body and health,” she said.

Ground products are sustainably handmade from its HQ on the Model Farm Road, and an investment of €500,000 by Quintas Capital last year, and €300,000 from Enterprise Ireland this year, has helped to scale-up operations.

“We’ve got strong ambition and commitment, we’re building the team, and some of the new markets we’re moving into next year include the Middle East, South East Asia, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan” said Peigín.

Ground, she said, is also ready to expand into skincare in response to demand.

With her refreshing honesty and humour, she jokes that despite all the growth, Ground is still very much regarded as a start-up.

“Even if at times I feel elderly!” she joked.

Nothing, we’re sure, an early night won’t sort!