Written by Tom Ryan
May 2021

More than one-third of American adults don’t receive the recommended seven or more hours of sleep each night. With the essential oils market growing rapidly in the U.S. and worldwide, many people have learned about essential oils and are eager to find out if they are truly helpful when you can’t sleep.

Essential oils are oils derived from plants, usually by crushing and steam distilling parts of the plant. A variety of essential oils have been used as medical treatments since ancient times. Aromatherapy involves inhaling essential oil scents or vapor in hopes of obtaining positive health effects. Research demonstrates that because smell affects sleep, incorporating certain essential oils into your bedtime routine may help people sleep better.

Learn about the best essential oils for sleep to determine which ones you want to bring into your bedroom environment.

Lavender

Lavender, a purple flowering shrub, seems to be the plant with the essential oil that is most commonly studied by scientists. This essential oil calms the nervous system, primarily due to the chemical compounds linalool and linalyl acetate found within it. Many studies demonstrate lavender’s positive effect on sleep in a variety of people:

  • People with insomnia — especially women, younger people, and those with mild insomnia — reported improved sleep after breathing in steam filled with lavender essential oil.
  • In students, exposure to lavender aroma at nighttime reduced sleepiness upon waking the following day.
  • Ischemic heart disease patients sleeping in a hospital’s intensive care unit experienced improved quality of sleep after hours of lavender aromatherapy.
  • Women between ages 45 and 55 experienced improved sleep quality after lavender aromatherapy.
  • Hospital patients with coronary artery disease experienced improved sleep and reduced anxiety after inhaling a lavender essential oil.
  • Postpartum mothers who inhaled lavender essential oil and kept cotton balls soaked with lavender essential oil in the room as they slept enjoyed improved sleep.

Lavender can be put on a pillow to be inhaled during the night or combined with other oils and used for massage, as it is easily absorbed by the skin. Combining lavender aromatherapy with sleep hygiene techniques11 improves sleep more than lavender alone.