Lavendar Aromatherapy For Increasing Sleep Quality

[Elchapchapchapo]

Hey all after doing alot of research via examine.com I'd like to share some gold I have found. One of the nuggets is the fact that lavendar aromatherapy shows signs it can assist in sleep quality.

Lavender - Scientific Review on Usage, Dosage, Side Effects | Examine.com

Go to the human effect matrix to see more.

Basically the evidence is minor on there site, however if one browses pubmed they will see that there have been studies done on hospital patients to improve sleep quality and they write that it *may* and *can* improve sleep quality. However it seems that it can be quite promising. I read on a study via pubmed that it may even increase SWS .

So of course upon reading this I went out and bought a diffuser to give it a go. I don't have a ton of experience with it yet but can tell you if you are interested to get a couple different things. One is the biggest size diffuser. Look to get on that is 300ml this will last you 8 - 10 hours on constant misting. So that way you can sleep with it all night. I bought one and it only lasts 3. So I will be upgrading.

The diffusers also have descriptions on them for how long they will last with that.

"Lavender oil has been rumored to be an estrogen mimicker, but I did a little more digging on this claim, about two weeks ago and found that there are other claims that they are not. When I look on the EWG skincare database, they usually flag the essential oils as having some kind of negative impact, but it's usually very minor. I like to keep things as simple and natural as possible, but I love pretty scented things and I'm willing to take my chances. :)" - from peatarian.

It may not be 100% peat approved due to little things like decreasing heart rate and decreasing body temperature. However it is enough to make me give it a go.

Especially after trying ritanserin and experiencing godlike SWS, I am open to try anything that can increase SWS.

 

[Dante]

What's SWS?

 

[Tenacity]

What's SWS?

Slow-wave sleep (aka deep sleep).

 

[mujuro]

Wow I was thinking about this only today, and I also wondered if the compounds are estrogenic. My wife just got lavender scented "sleep lotion". This stuff is seriously potent. The aroma is really intense and it's incredibly viscous. The scent will last until morning. I noticed lately I've had a much easier time getting to sleep. I'm gonna tinker with this - anything that can help a bipolar sleep is Godsend. I'll take a bit of estrogenicity if it means great sleep.

 

[Elchapchapchapo]

Here is study on SWS: An olfactory stimulus modifies nighttime sleep in young men and women. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[Ella]

It also lowers cortisol. You can place a few drop in your pillow or on pjs if your cortisol is too high.

 

[Lejeboca]

Here is study on SWS: An olfactory stimulus modifies nighttime sleep in young men and women. - PubMed - NCBI

Just to expand a bit more on this quoted paper.

In addition to deeper sleep (effects on slow-wave sleep), the morning vigor was increased.
These effects were kind of immediate: 1 adaptation to the lab sleep night, 1 control night, and 1 stimulus night ("During the experimental session, subjects received lavender oil intermittently between 23:10 and 23:40 h. The stimulus was presented for the first 2 min of each 10 min period [..].")

Figure 3 (page 898)
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Here is a small study on old people:

Can Aromatherapy Oils Promote Sleep in Severely Demented Patients?

Treatment was with Roman Camomile and Lavender oils for 6 weeks. 2 drops of oil placed on the bedding 6-12 inches away from the nose 15 min before bed time.

"An 88 year old man who had been diagnosed as having a longstanding paranoid personality who suffered from multi-infarct dementia. Placement in three residential homes failed due to his aggressive, difficult to manage behaviour. He received no night sedation during the study. Resident A had a mean of 59 hours per week, sleeping peacefully during the initial two week baseline period. This increased to 64.3 hours mean per week during the following six week period when essential oils were introduced, an average increase of 5.3 hours per week. During the study period there was a marked decrease in the time spent awake and distressed from 9.5 hours per week to 6.5 hours per week. The major improvements coincided with the use of Roman Camomile oil."​