The beauty of using aromatherapy as a sleeping aid is that it doesn’t just immediately knock you out. Aromatherapy can be incorporated into a calming routine in order to create a mood of relaxation. Try combining aromatherapy with a warm bath, a cup of chamomile tea, or half an hour of reading a book in order to prepare yourself for sleep.
However you incorporate aromatherapy into your bedtime routine, remember that it should be used in order to fix the source of insomnia or disturbed sleep.
Remedies like an Ambien are designed to treat the symptoms, but aromatherapy is intended to help you relax and sleep deeply without any unnatural sleep aids. This might mean that it isn’t as immediately effective as a pill, but in the long run it will help you to develop a normal sleep routine.
What Researchers Say
Lavender in particular is gaining respect among academics that study the science of sleep. For instance, a study at Wesleyan University discovered that lavender could be used to improve the quality of sleep for young men and women [1]. The individuals involved in the study sniffed either lavender or distilled water each night before sleeping. The people who smelled lavender enjoyed an increase in their slow-wave sleep, which meant that they slept more deeply and woke up the next morning with more energy.
Another study placed sleepers in rooms scented with lavender and then switched to no aroma the next night. The sleepers reported that the quality of their sleep was 20% better when they slept in the lavender-scented rooms [2]. Yet another study discovered that lavender was effective in helping dementia patients to deal with anxiety and disturbed sleep patterns [3].
If you choose to incorporate lavender aromas into your bedtime routine, the lavender will also allow your heart rate and blood pressure to slow so that you can easily enter the parasympathetic state that is most conducive to deep sleep [4]. Sweet dreams!
How have you added aromatherapy to your bedtime routine? We’d love to hear your feedback!