Sleeping With Oils

Unwinding at night can be a challenge depending on what is happening in your daily life. Between work, projects, children, friends, spouses, parents, school… sometimes it can be difficult shutting your brain down and unwind.

Getting a good night’s rest with adequate REM sleep is important for restoring and maintaining our emotional wellbeing, mental, and physical health. Using essential oils is a way myself, and many others use, to get quality and rejuvenating sleep.

Common oils such as Lavender, Vetiver, Cedarwood, Frankincense, and RomanChamomile; blends such as Lavender and Orange, RomanChamomile and Bergamot, Lavender and Frankincense, Valerian mixed with Serenity or Peace and Calming…

There are many combinations you could use to aid in sleeping; you just have to find the right combination for you. Putting Lavender in the diffuser is usually enough to help me and my son to drift off and stay asleep. If that doesn’t calm our scenes Vetiver becomes my next go to. I love these oils especially when I work nights and need to enter REM sleep quickly.

Having a nighttime routine and good sleep hygiene is importing according to most research. I am sure you have noticed: no TV before bed, nothing in the bedroom except sleeping, or even not phones in bed. Having a routine where you turn on your diffuser before you are actually ready to hop into the bed has worked for my son. If he is in the room the diffuser is on, this way it is getting into his system before he realizes it. I also made him a lotion to use at night which usually also helps set the mood.

My husband, on the other hand, is a different story. Getting him to stay sleep seems to be a different challenge. But of course, there is an oil for everything. Since he usually ends up hot during the night, next we will add peppermint to keep him cool. People commonly use the following oils in a diffuser blend or a topical blend daily before night time to aid in sleeping:

Sleep-walking: 

black pepper, geranium, lavender, vetiver, cellular complex blend, grounding, reassuring blend, or a restful blend. (italicized words are oils from doTERRA)

Snoring: Douglas fir, eucalyptus, geranium, patchouli, peppermint, rosemary, cleansingblend, detoxificationblend, respiratoryblend, or protectiveblend

Restlessness: Bergamot, black pepper, cedarwood, frankincense, lavender, neroli, patchouli, peppermint, Roman chamomile, tangerine, vetiver, wild orange, yarrow, grounding blend, joyful blend, message blend, restful blend, or, tension blend

Low melatonin levels: Black pepper, cedarwood, frankincense, ginger, lime, myrrh, rosemary (during the day) sandalwood, tangerine, ylang-ylang, vetiver, focus blend, or restful blend

Jet lag: Lavender, patchouli, peppermint, wild orange, basil, grapefruit, lemon, lemongrass, rosemary, tangerine, arborvitae, encouraging blend, invigorating blend, metabolic blend, restful blend

Information from The Essential Life 2018. More oils for different conditions can be found on pg 349-352

If you are having hot flashes, some people have reported using peppermint to keep them cool and ease episodes.

Having a routine is important along with placing oils around your home next to where you usually use them. This makes finding commonly used oils easily accessible and you are more likely to use them.

Don’t give up. If one or two oils don’t work try another one for a couple of days. There is an oil for everything. You will be surprised one oil you use to sleep might even aid you throughout the day.

I hope this information helps you get a restful nights sleep.

Jasmine Hutchinson BSN, PHN, RN

DISCLAIMER…THIS BLOG IS INTENDED SOLELY TO SERVE AS A RESOURCE TO HEALTH INFORMATION AND TO PROVIDE YOU WITH BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE SYMPTOMS, CAUTIONS, SAFETY CONCERNS, NATURAL REMEDIES, DIY RECIPES, AND NUTRITIONAL CONCERNS RELATED TO ALL ASPECTS OF HEALTH. THIS BLOG DOES NOT PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE EXPLANATION OF ALL ASPECTS OF ANY HEALTH CONDITION OR CONCERN OR EVEN THOSE ASPECTS THAT ARE DISCUSSED IN THIS BLOG. THIS BLOG IS NOT INTENDED TO BE–AND YOU SHOULD NOT USE IT AS–A SUBSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL ADVICE OR HEALTH CARE GIVEN BY A LICENSED HEALTH CARE PROVIDER. BE SURE TO SEE A LICENSED HEALTH CARE PROVIDER TO HELP ENSURE YOUR HEALTH AND THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF YOUR FAMILY.