Top 7 Natural Essential Oils that help you sleep

We spend on average one third of our life sleeping - that’s approximately 26 years. Plus  we can spend up to a total of 7 years just trying to get to sleep. That’s a grand total of 33 years, or 12,045 days in bed!

Although these numbers may be shocking to hear, sleeping is so important if we want to live healthy and vibrant lives. Plus, research shows that consistent, deep sleep has the following benefits:

• Improves Mental Health, which includes emotional stability, improved concentration and focus, and promoting a positive mindset.
• Improves Physical wellbeing, which includes balancing and supporting all of our most important physiological functions like digestion, breathing, hormonal, cardiovascular, skin appearance, and movement.

So how do we support healthy sleeping habits, so we can maintain our wellbeing and continue living a positive and vibrant life? Use Essential Oils!

What are Essential Oils?

Essential Oils are the aromatic extracts that come from different parts of plants like wood, leaves, citrus peels, roots, seeds and resins.  These aromatic extracts contain upward of hundreds of different molecules that when combined offer us a wide variety of beautiful scents.

Smelling these pleasant aromas actually does something to our brains.  Our sense of smell works via special nerve cells in our noses that get triggered when an aromatic molecule floats by.  And this reaction then sends a signal to the part of our brain that regulates all of our physiological functions, including  our emotions and behavior.

This means that when we smell something that we recognize as pleasurable it triggers a kind of “relaxation” response in our minds and bodies.

So, just by sniffing essential oils, or diffusing them we can encourage our minds and bodies to feel calmer and more content.

When it comes to supporting our sleep, essential oils can offer great benefits.  

Top 7 Essential Oils that help you sleep:

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) Essential Oil

Quieting to the mind, helps ease away worrisome thoughts and overactive thinking.  Also offers a calming and peaceful feeling to our bodies so we can wind down more easily.

Frankincense (Boswellia serrata) Essential Oil

Grounding and centering, if offers the experience of feeling more rooted, and less frenetic. Since it has been used in meditation practices for thousands of years, it has a remarkable ability to sweep away the static in our busy minds so we can feel more peaceful.

Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) Essential Oil

Sweet, floral and herby smelling, this essential oil can quickly make our emotions feel less chaotic, while offering the experience of feeling supported and cared for.

Cedarwood (Cedrus atlantica) Essential Oil

Another oil that has a loong ancient history of use in ritual, ceremonies and mediation practices from many different cultures around the world, the aroma of this essential oil is grounding and centring, and helps us feel more resilient and quiet.

Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) Essential Oil  

Probably one of the most positive smelling essential oils, it almost always makes us see the world from a more positive light. It is clearing and calming, and makes our hearts feel happy,

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Essential Oil

The scent of Basil can help disperse any negativity that feels like it’s stuck on a repeating loop in our minds. It’s deeply calming and offers the experience of soothing away worry.

Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) Essential Oil

Like it’s relative Sweet Orange Essential Oil, Bergamot has this remarkable ability to shift our mindset and reframe a seemingly unpleasant experience into a positive one, full of opportunity and joy.

Lemon (Citrus limon) Essential Oil

Another member of the citrus family, it makes us feel more positive and upbeat, by clearing away negativity and helping us feel more refreshed and rejuvenated.

Peppermint (Mentha piperita) Essential Oil  

Clearing, refreshing and releasing, Peppermint essential oil can help us let go of things that are keeping us from feeling more at ease.

Coriander Seed (Coriandrum sativum) Essential Oil  

This essential oil actually shares similar molecules with Bergamot and Lavender, making it a great choice to quiet our mind, ease away worrisome thoughts and overactive thinking while offering a calming and peaceful feeling to our bodies so we can wind down more easily.

Let’s look at a few ways we can use essential oils to sleep better!

Essential oils can help you in your night symptoms

Night symptoms like feeling overheated, night sweats,  or achy can easily be soothed by creating a cooling aromatic mist with the following essential oils.  

Here is an essential oils sleep spray recipe

What you will need:

• 2 oz of distilled water
• 1 drop of Peppermint (Mentha piperita)  Essential Oil : Peppermint essential oil smells cooling, and refreshing
• 7 drops of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)  Essential Oil - Lavender essential oil smells calming, and has been shown to ease our minds and bodies.
• 4 drops of Lemon (Citrus limon) essential oil - Lemon essential oil smells refreshing and cooling, and is good to clear our minds of negativity and worry that may be keeping us awake.

1. First add the water to an empty 2 oz bottle,
2. Next add the essential oils.  
3. Shake well and hold the bottle at least 12 inches away from your face and body.
4. Spray generously before bed, and if you wake up in the middle of the night, spray again.

Essential oils for nightmares in adults

Disturbing dreams can often disrupt our sleep patterns and make us feel jittery.  To ease away the feeling of stress a nightmare may have caused, try diffusing the following blend of essential oils. 

• 7 drops of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) Essential Oil - Lavender essential oil smells calming, and has been shown to calm our minds and bodies.
• 4 drops of Frankincense (Boswellia serrata) Essential Oil - Frankincense essential oil smells grounding and comforting, and can quickly make you feel supported and loved.
• 7 drops of Cedarwood (Cedrus atlantica) Essential Oil - Cedarwood essential oil also offers an aromatic experience of grounding while gently awakening out inner resilience and courage.

Essential oils for nighttime

Using essential oils before bed can be a really easy and effective way to fall asleep more quickly, stay asleep and help you get back to sleep if you wake up in the middle of the night.  There are many simple ways you can incorporate them into your nighttime routine.  See below for a few examples:

Essential oils for night creams:

• Try adding 1-2 drops of Lavender essential oil into your night cream, mix thoroughly and then apply as usual

Essential oils on feet for sleep:

• Try adding 5 drops of Lavender essential oil to 1 TBSP of your favorite carrier oil like Organic Jojoba Oil, mix well and massage onto the soles of your feet

Essential oils for nighttime cough:

• Try adding 4 drops of Frankincense essential oil to your humidifier before going to sleep to try and soothe away a potential nighttime cough

Essential oils for sleep and congestion

• Try adding a combination of 4 drops of Frankincense and 7 drops of Cedarwood essential oil to a diffuser, and program it to turn on and off intermittently throughout the night.

Essential oils for sleep and anxiety

• Blend the following essential oils into 2 TBSP of Organic Jojoba Oil and massage on neck and shoulders for an effective essential oils sleep blend to soothe away worry and and an overactive mind
• 7 drops of Lavender essential oil
• 3 drops of Geranium essential oil
• 5 drops of Coriander essential oil

The possibilities are endless when using essential oils to help us sleep better and feel more well rested.  Just always remember the following safety measures:  

1. Never apply an essential oil directly to your skin, always mix it into a carrier oil, we recommend Organic Jojoba Oil because it leaves a very soft non-greasy feeling on the skin.
2. If you choose to diffuse essential oils while you are sleeping, make sure the room is well ventilated, and the diffuser is programmed to turn on and off intermittently.
3. If using an aromatic mist, make sure to hold the bottle at least 12 inches away from your face and body to avoid getting anything into your eyes or mouth.

Please let us know how you are using essential oils to get better rest!