The Best Essential Oils and Blends for Sleep & Relaxation
Why Use Essential Oils To Get A Better Night’s Sleep
Not getting enough sleep and not getting quality sleep is one of the worst things to happen to your overall health, daily productivity, immune system, and mood. Lack of sleep and too many sleepless nights can lead to many medical conditions. If you struggle with sleep problems, you are all too familiar with the impact a lack of sleep can have on your health.
The good news is, essential oils are a great way to help calm your brain and body, lower heart rate from a racing mind, provide stress relief, and help you fall into a deep sleep.
Essential oils have been used since ancient times for their calming properties.
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Using essential oils can help you get a better night’s sleep, improve your sleep quality, and make it easier to wake up in the morning. If you’re looking for a natural alternative to help you sleep, essential oils can be a great choice.
By using essential oils, you can easily help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep all night long. Plus, you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and ready to face the day.
Essential oils are a great way to help you fall asleep when used properly. This post will discuss how to use essential oil blends for sleep and what essential oils work best.”
You can use pure essential oils to get a better nights sleep and with just a few drops, you can be on your way to having a more restful night. Through the the use of essential oils, you can help put yourself into a deeper sleep and get more peaceful sleep
Surprisingly Simple Changes to Make for a More Restful Night’s Sleep
Before we get into how and which oils to use for sleep, it’s important to talk about creating a sleep routine. This is the foundation for setting the tone for a good night’s sleep.
Getting and staying asleep can be difficult for some people. Those susceptible may find that insomnia worsens in the winter months. What changes can you make to ensure some decent shut-eye… not just tonight, but every night?
Anxiety and mood disorders are on the rise, at least partially due to sedentary lifestyles. We can change this simply by choosing to be active, get daily cardio exercise, and spend some time outdoors in daylight.
Reduce stress. Daily stress causes our adrenals to secrete cortisol – the stress hormone. Decades of stressed-out living can lead to heart disease and high blood pressure. What can you eliminate or modify? Making a needed change is hard at first. But once you do, you’ll notice the improvement immediately. You will finally be able to sleep again.
I wrote this article on nighttime sleep rituals for an anxious mind that you might find helpful.
Add in a yoga or meditation practice. Yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the body’s background functions. Breathing, digestion, cell and tissue repair happen while we rest. Give yourself the gift of deep breath, calming stretches, and delivering quiet calm to your body and mind in preparation for a great night’s sleep.
Become mindful of how food affects your sleep. Big meals or sugary snacks before bed bring a spike and crash of your blood sugar while you sleep. This results in a 3 a.m. waking, and can lead to diabetes. If hungry before bed, try small portions of easy-to-digest fiber and healthy protein. A cup of plain yogurt and a few wheat crackers is a good snack to take the hunger edge off before bed.
The Benefits of Using Essential Oils for Sleep
When you use calming essential oils such as Lavender Oil as a sleep aid before bed, you help calm your mind and body and signal to your brain that it’s now time to sleep. I like to say I’m calming the crazy. I’m one of those people whose brains goes into overdrive as soon as I lay down and I have a hard time turning it off. Essential Oils help!
Essential Oils for Sleep that Aren’t Lavender
Looking for essential oils to improve your sleep that don’t include Lavender Oil? Look no further than these 4 essential oils – Vetiver, Roman Chamomile, Bergamot Mint and Cedarwood – all known for their calming and relaxing properties.
Perfect for those who are looking for alternatives to lavender-based blends, these oils can help you drift off to a peaceful slumber and wake up feeling refreshed.
Tips For Better Sleep
If you struggle to fall asleep at night, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to create a bedtime routine that you follow every night.
Doing the same routine every night will signal your brain that it’s time to fall asleep.
This can include any or all of the following:
- changing into PJ’s
- brushing your teeth
- doing some simple relaxation stretches
- reading a book
- praying
- meditating
- journaling
- filling your diffuser with your sleepy time oils
- rolling on your sleepy time roller
- spray your sheets with a calming sleep spray
It’s also important to stop use of electronic devices at least 30 minutes before you want to fall asleep. Studies have shown that when we are on our phones or tablets, our brains are being stimulated. It’s important to let your brain wind down and decompress from the day’s activities. According to this article by the sleepfoundation.org, turning off cell phones and electronics 30 minutes before bed can help you sleep better.
Instead of scrolling Instagram, read a book, do a sudoku puzzle, meditate, write in your journal or find any other activity that doesn’t involve the TV, or electronic device. This will be huge in helping yourself unwind.
How to Use Essential Oils for Sleep
There are three different ways to use essential oils. I recommend using all three ways to maximize the benefits so that you can get a deep sleep.
1) Aromatic Use – smelling the oils
Help calm your mind and body and bring about a more restful sleep by diffusing essential oils before bed
Smelling essential oils is the number one way to calm your mind. Your sense of smell is a powerful way to impact your mood. There is a direct connection from your nose to the limbic center of your brain. The limbic system is directly involved with controlling emotions and memory, which makes this a very effective way to change your emotions.
There are a few ways I like to do this.
Diffuse Essential Oils to help bring on a deep sleep
The best way to receive the sedative effects of essential oils is to use an essential oil diffuser on your nightstand.
An essential oil diffuser is somewhat like a humidifier, but smaller and quieter. You add water to the reservoir, then add in a few drops of a sleep-inducing essential oil. The diffuser will put out a very fine mist for several hours. When you breathe this in, you get the calming benefits of the oils.
By placing the diffuser on your nightstand, you’ll have it near you and be able to breathe in the oils all night long for prolonged exposure.
Lavender Essential Oil is a very popular way to help your mind and body calm and relax before bed. Add a few drops to your diffuser . You can also add a few drops of Balance essential oil for even more grounding and calming.
Here is a popular and effective essential oil diffuser sleep blend.
Add 3 drops doTERRA Balance blend and 3 drops Lavender to your diffuser
Related: Calming Sleep Diffuser Blends
Spray Your Sheets with calming essential oils
Another option is to make a spray and spray essential oils with sedative properties onto your sheets using this DIY Linen Sheet Spray or into the air.
First – you can put a few drops of calming essential oil on your pillow and sheets.
I have a favorite linen sheet spray recipe that I love to use.
I keep the spray bottle right on my nightstand and mist my sheets and blankets before climbing into bed.
3) Topical Application – applying oils directly to your skin
Apply calming essential oils to pulse points, down your spine, and the bottoms of the feet. This allows the oils to penetrate into your blood stream, and within a few seconds, the oils can spread to your entire body and calm your body.
I like to add a drop of essential oil to my wrists just like perfume so that I can smell the oil anytime.
You can do this by putting a drop of essential oil in the palm of your hand with a teaspoon of carrier oil such as fractionated coconut oil or jojoba oil (never vegetable oil). They apply along your spine, or to pulse point.
** Be sure to do a small patch test on your skin before applying over a large area to make sure you don’t have an adverse reaction to it.
I also have a sleep roller that I keep on my nightstand. You can get the roller recipe in my Ultimate Roller Recipe eBook along with 22 essential oil recipes.
An aromatic bath is another great way to calm your mind and body before bed. Add a few drops of essential oil to a warm bath before bedtime to calm your mind and body.
4) Internal Use
I say this with caution because you don’t want to take just any so-called essential oil internally. They can be quite toxic. Use only a certified pure therapeutic grade essential oil that is labeled safe for internal use. And be careful where you buy your oils.
Also, never buy essential oils on Amazon because tampering is rampant and you don’t know what’s in that bottle. The tamper proof caps are easy to replace and it looks as if it’s never been opened. Even I was a victim before I knew better. Buy your oils directly from a reputable source.
This website a a certified doTERRA Website so you know you are getting the real thing.
We are a doTERRA Certified shop. Shop Confidently!
You can put a couple drops of Lavender and/or Copaiba in an empty veggie capsule. Do this about 20 or 30 minutes before you’re ready to fall asleep.
You can also make a calming herbal tea by adding a drop of bergamot oil and drinking this to help create a calming effect before bed.
doTERRA has a very effective Serenity Sleep capsule that is a natural blend of herbs and essential oils to help relax.
The Copaiba capsules are another convenient way to get this brain relaxing oil into your system.
Ditch the melatonin and other sleep aids and give these a try. I have found it to be WONDERFUL!
List of the Best essential oils to use for sleep
There’s many essential oils that work fabulously to help you fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
It’s important to keep in mind that what works for one person, may not work as well for someone else. So I encourage you to try a few different oils until you find one that works for you.
Try using one or two of these oils in a diffuser, on your skin via a roller, or some are ok to take internally (it will show supplement facts on the bottle if it is safe to consume).
Looking for ways to use these oils? You’ll love these Diffuser Blends for Sleep!
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Here is a list of some of the most effective calming oils to help you sleep.
- Lavender
- Vetiver Oil
- Neroli
- Magnolia
- doTERRA Serenity
- Breathe
- Roman Chamomile
- Copaiba
- Frankincense
- Cedarwood Oil
- Bergamot Oil
- Sandalwood
- Ylang Ylang
- Sweet Marjoram
- Lemon Balm (Melissa)
- Clary Sage
Want to add one or two to your collection? We are a certified doTERRA Shop. Click on an oil to buy it!
If you’re looking to purchase essential oils, we are a certified doTERRA shop.
We are a doTERRA Certified shop. Shop Confidently!
Wrapping up How to Use Essential Oils to get a Better Night’s Sleep
As you can see, essential oils are a great way to help you get a better night’s sleep. I hope this article has helped given you some ideas on how you can incorporate essential oils into your routine to get a better night’s sleep.
Be sure to grab my free sleep protocol printable guide.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease.
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Dawn Goehring
Dawn Goehring is the founder of Desert Naturals where she writes educational articles on essential oils, DIY’s on natural beauty products, homemade cleaners, and provides related essential oil accessories like planners, trackers, tshirts, and custom designed essential oil storage. She has been featured in articles on Porch.com, Redfin.com, MommyOnPurpose and more.
Dawn has earned an aromatherapist degree and has earned a doTERRA essential oil specialist certification which is a fancy way of saying she has learned a lot about the chemistry of essential oils and how they work in the body.