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Best Essential Oils for Sleep

Aug 18, 2022 comments off

Best Essential Oils for Sleep

 

A good night’s sleep is essential for overall health and well-being, but it can be hard to come by. Luckily, essential oils can help. They have been used for centuries for health and general well-being. Thankfully, there is a wide variety of essential oils available to promote relaxation and improve sleep.

Lavender oil

If you are struggling to get to sleep or keep waking up, it can have a detrimental effect on your health and mood. Whilst giving up caffeine and not eating within a few hours of bedtime may be enough to solve the problem, you may need a little more help to get some restorative shut-eye. Your first port of call might be your doctor. However, if you’re looking for a natural way to improve your sleep rather than drugs and medication, you should consider trying lavender oil.

The lavender plant is native to the Mediterranean, and its name comes from the Latin “to wash,” due to its traditional use in laundry and herbal baths. Lavender oil is extracted, by distillation, from the flowers and leaves of the lavender plant (1). The main compounds in lavender are linalyl acetate and linolool, which are thought to be the compounds that give lavender its relaxing properties (2).

Lavender oil can help to improve sleep quality by increasing theta and alpha wave lengths in the brain, which makes you feel relaxed. Inhaling the scent of lavender oil is more effective than rubbing lavender oil on the body (2).Therefore, inhaling lavender oil before bedtime helps you to fall asleep more quickly and experience fewer awakenings during the night.

One of the reasons people suffer from insomnia and cannot get to sleep is due to stress, depression and anxiety (3). The good news is that the calming, floral scent of lavender is also thought to help alleviate anxiety (4) and promote relaxation, both of which are essential for that good night’s sleep. In addition, linalool in lavender oil has mild sedative properties that can help to induce sleep (5). Just add a few drops to your diffuser before bedtime and breathe in the soothing fragrance. You may find that you’re able to drift off to sleep more easily and enjoy a more restful night’s sleep.

 

Chamomile

Most people are familiar with chamomile as a tea, but did you know that chamomile essential oil can also be used to promote sleep? Chamomile oil is derived from the Matricaria chamomilla L. plant, which is a member of the daisy family (6). It has long been used as a natural remedy for insomnia, to reduce stress levels and ease anxiety. Obviously, if you are stressed or anxious, getting to sleep can be difficult. This can be due to thoughts racing through your head, over-thinking or an over-imaginative brain thinking about “what ifs” when you are trying to settle down. This is where chamomile essential oil comes in.

The oil contains compounds, especially a flavonoid called apigenin that binds to receptors in the brain, promoting a state of relaxation. The oil is thought to work by impacting the brain’s levels of GABA (7), a neurotransmitter that plays a role in regulating mood and sleep-wake cycles (8).  As a result, it can be an effective way to improve sleep quality. If you’re having trouble sleeping, consider diffusing some chamomile oil in your bedroom. You may just find yourself drifting off to sleep sooner than you thought possible.

While research on the efficacy of chamomile oil is limited and needs further research (9), some studies have shown it to be effective in reducing anxiety while also improving sleep quality (10), especially when linked with lavender essential oil (11). There appears to be more evidence that chamomile tea is effective to improve falling, and staying, asleep (7). Therefore, if you are struggling with insomnia, drinking chamomile tea while inhaling lavender oil may be worth trying.

 

Jasmine

Jasmine oil is extracted from the jasmine flower, which is native to Asia. The oil has a sweet, floral scent that is said to be both calming (12), relaxing and uplifting (13), making it an ideal choice for use before bedtime.  Jasmine essential oil contains linalool (14), the sedative ingredient mentioned in the lavender section of this article. This is potentially the reason jasmine essential oil also has some sedative and relaxation benefits to help you sleep.

In addition, jasmine oil is believed to have antispasmodic properties, which means it can help to relieve muscle tension and cramping. This can be helpful for those who experience restless nights due to pain or discomfort (15). Who can say no to a massage on those sore muscles, with a lovely scented oil, as another way to relax before bedtime?

Jasmine oil is considered safe for most people when used in moderate amounts. However, it is always best to consult with a healthcare provider before using any new essential oil, as some oils may not be suitable for those with certain medical conditions.

Bergamot

Bergamot is a citrus essential oil that has anecdotal evidence referring to relaxing and sleep-inducing benefits (16). However, there is no scientific evidence to support this for bergamot oil on its own, as yet. In fact, research published this year actually states that no relaxing, sedative or sleep inducing benefits were found (17). However, the study did find that bergamot can help lift low mood, which as previously discussed, can affect sleep quality (3). Therefore, it is worth a try. If it works for you, who needs a scientist to verify the results?

That being said, there is research that backs the use of bergamot essential oil for sleep when blended with other oils such as sandalwood oil (18) and ylang ylang (19).

 

How to use essential oils for a better night’s sleep.

A good night’s sleep is essential for overall health and well-being, but it can be hard to come by. Luckily, essential oils can help. They have been used for centuries for health and general well-being. Thankfully, there are a wide variety of essential oils available to promote relaxation and improve sleep.

If you are struggling to sleep, it is best to have regular bedtime habits. This is known as sleep hygiene and can be boosted by adding essential oils to your regular routine. A good first step is to add a few drops of your preferred essential oil to a diffuser in your bedroom about 30 minutes before bedtime. Alternatively, you could burn an essential oil candle or use an oil burner. You just need to be mindful of the fire risk. Make sure the candle or oil burner is on a flat, steady surface, away from any heat sources, and make sure you keep animals and children out of your bedroom.

Another way to induce sleep and relaxation is to have a lovely warm, relaxing bath before bedtime. This is a perfect opportunity to add a few more drops of sleep inducing essential oil to your bath or burn a candle. Again being mindful of the risks of the naked flame.

As you get ready for bed, you can apply a small amount of the appropriate essential oil to your pulse points on the wrists, neck or temples. Alternatively, or in addition, put a few drops on your pillow, pyjamas or nightdress. If you are concerned about staining your bed linen or nightwear, you can add the essential oil to a cotton wool ball, tissue or handkerchief instead.

Another way to use essential oils to help you sleep is to massage the oil onto your chest. This can only be done if you dilute the oil with a carrier oil. 5 drops of essential oil in one fluid ounce of jojoba oil works well.

It would seem that the old favourite, lavender, has the most anecdotal and scientific evidence to back its use for helping you to get to sleep and stay asleep. If it works for you, great. However, it is worth trying other oils as there do appear to be increased benefits when blending them together.

 

References

  1. About Lavender http://www.lavendersense.com/index.php/Lavender/Index
  2. Lavender and the Nervous System https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612440/
  3. The impact of stress on sleep: Pathogenic sleep reactivity as a vulnerability to insomnia and circadian disorders https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7045300/
  4. Silexan, an orally administered Lavandula oil preparation, is effective in the treatment of ‘subsyndromal’ anxiety disorder: a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20512042/
  5. Sedative effect on humans of inhalation of essential oil of linalool:: Sensory evaluation and physiological measurements using optically active linalools https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003267097006399
  6. Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.): An overview https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210003/
  7. Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995283/
  8. Effects of Oral Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) Administration on Stress and Sleep in Humans: A Systematic Review https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2020.00923/full
  9. Preliminary examination of the efficacy and safety of a standardized chamomile extract for chronic primary insomnia: A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6882-11-78?crsi=662497094&cicada_org_src=healthwebmagazine.com&cicada_org_mdm=direct

 

 

 

 

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