When I was growing up and couldn’t sleep, my mom would spray lavender mist onto my pillow. She said I would fall asleep before I knew it! I remembered this home remedy my mom would use and it got me thinking, does the smell of lavender actually help you get to sleep faster?
In the article, Lavender – The Sweet Scent of Sleep, Sara Altshul explains how lavender was used in the past, “During the Middle Ages, the herb was used as an aphrodisiac. John Parkinson, a 17th-century London apothecary, wrote that lavender is especially good for all griefs and pains of the head and brain'” (Altshul). This makes sense as to why lavender might help you sleep because it relaxes the head and brain to help focus on the task at hand, like sleep.
Previous research shows that the scent of lavender calms anxiety and insomnia. “In one study done at Britain’s University of Southampton, researchers tracked the sleep patterns of 10 adults. For a week, half of the participants slept in a room where lavender essential oil was diffused in the air throughout the night; the rest snoozed in a similar room where a placebo — sweet almond oil — was released. After a week, the groups switched rooms. At the end of the study, the volunteers ranked the quality of their sleep 20% better on average when in the lavender-scented room” (Altshul).
In a more recent study done at Wesleyan University, 31 men and women were asked to sniff lavender essential oil one night, and the distilled water the next right before bedtime. While the researchers monitored their sleeping cycles with brain scans, they found the subject slept more soundly after sniffing the lavender. They also stated that they felt more rested and energetic the next morning.
If you have constant stress and cannot sleep because of it, lavender essential oils might be the cure for you! Try dabbing some lavender oil onto a tissue and tuck it in between your pillow and pillow case. This is an extremely easy and cheap way to ensure you get a healthy amount of sleep!
When I saw this heading I was immediately intrigued. Its true. Lavender is used in many “bedtime teas” said to help those who have issues falling asleep at night. This raises the question should we stay away from using Levander scented laundry soaps or hand creams…wont that make us tired as well? I think it depends how strong the smell is when it is entering our body. I would probably stay away from lavender unless its bed time !
I feel like I’ve heard of lavender being good for sleep but I never really thought about it too much. Now I definitely want to try it. I’m curious to /why/ exactly the lavender helps people sleep. What is it about the lavender makes it easier? Here’s an article I found discussing lavender as a sleep aid further: http://sudsnbuds.com/?p=210
I had no idea that lavender was so helpful! It makes sense that lavender can help with sleep especially since it helps people relax. The study was done well with the two groups being separated (one using the lavender and one using a plain control) and then the two groups were switched. I found this topic very interesting and I now know what to use when I am having troubles sleeping.
I’ve actually tried that before and it works really well! I researched other scents that help you fall asleep and I actually found an article that tells you about scents that help wake you up. For instance, the scents of both peppermint and lemon have the same effect as drinking a cup of coffee! For those of you who don’t like coffee, this may be the way to go. Although they aid in waking you up, peppermint and lavender scents also stimulate your mind and keep you alert throughout the day.
http://www.divinecaroline.com/self/self-discovery/right-scents-smells-sleep-and-waking
Kaitlyn,
Great blog! I actually have lavender spray that I spray in my room before I go to sleep and it always helps me sleep better! However, one day I got to thinking that maybe knowing that lavender was supposed to help me sleep better made me think I was sleeping better even though I wasn’t, kind of like the placebo effect! But now that you informed us that studies were done to prove if this theory is true or not, I am relieved! I found particularly interesting the study in which the two groups slept in separate rooms because one group got the lavender spray and the other group got the “placebo” spray which was sweet almond oil! It was very smart of them to have the groups switch rooms because it allowed them data that they could compare. You had mentioned that lavender has been reported to especially help people with insomnia! I found a web page from the Health Psychology department at Vanderbilt University that explains how exactly lavender helps people with insomnia get rest, it was a very interesting article I recommend it! I posted the link below
http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/2009/LavenderSleep.htm
Kaitlyn,
This is such a unique post. I never knew that lavender was used for a sleeping remedy. I have trouble falling asleep even now because I just have so much going through my mind at night and I might have to get some lavender to help me fall asleep. I’ve never really knew all the uses of lavender, but after reading this article I learned about all the other uses of lavender and I realized that I could use it a lot more:) http://www.countryliving.com/outdoor/gardening/lavender-0908#slide-4
Kaitlyn,
Thanks so much for this post it was informative and well written! I love anything lavender scented and even use it in my baking sometimes. I always have a hard time falling asleep when I’m stressed so I’m definitely going to try using lavender oil to help me sleep. After reading this I became curious as to what other uses/benefits lavender has. I researched it a little and found out that it has a lot of great uses other than a sleep aid including curing dry skin, nausea, bee stings and many more. You can learn about more uses here >> http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7769/13-uses-for-lavender-oil-the-only-essential-oil-youll-need.html