Sleep Help Is Here: Learn The Best Essential Oils For Sleep

Types of Essential Oils for Sleep and Ways to Use Them

Aromatherapy for sleep has been around for a long time. You can use the oils in several ways, through diffusion or indirect inhalation.

For a soothing experience, try putting a couple of drops in the palm of your hand, rubbing your hands together, cupping them around your nose and inhaling. You can also rub a couple of drops into the bottom of your feet, shoulders or stomach or mix 3-5 drops of the essential oil in your bath water and soak your body.

Essential oils also work well when blended together. You can research recipes to blend oils to relieve your sleeplessness.

Now, let’s take a look at some of my favourite products.

Edens Garden Lavender Essential Oil (Lavendula angustifolia) is therapeutic grade. Lavender is known for its sedating qualities and associated with relaxation. Research has shown that Lavender eases anxiety and insomnia. It has a sweet, floral scent, and lavender has been used for a variety of health issues for millennia, a favorite in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures. 

Edens Garden Lavender Essential Oil is a product that receives great reviews from customers. The company believes in running a business that values the customer over profit and focuses on the medicinal and healing qualities of essential oils.

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Lavender Essential Oil is very gentle. Use it by diffusion, inhaling it directly, or putting some drops in your bath. Lavender blends well, so you can find or create different recipes using it and other oils.

Healing Solutions East Indian Vetiver (Vetiveria Zizanoides) has many benefits including sedative qualities. Vetiver or Khus Khus, as it’s known, is a grass with a pleasant, earthy smell.

It's a very safe and gentle essential oil. People who use Vetiver say that it has a cooling effect on both the mind and body. Insomnia is often caused by stress and not being able to shut off your busy mind.  Vetiver is also called a nervine, which means it calms your anger, anxiety and nervousness, all of which can derive from insomnia.

This oil is very popular in aromatherapy and so many people use a diffuser to enjoy its pleasant scent. Vetiver also blends well with lavender, ylang ylang, jasmine, and a couple of other essential oils.

Healing Solutions Sandalwood Essential Oil is extracted from mature sandalwood trees.

There are three varieties: Indian Sandalwood ( Santalum Album), Hawaiian Sandalwood (Santalum Ellipticum and Australian Sandalwood (Santalum Spicatum).

Indian Sandalwood is the most expensive and rarest and Hawaiian Sandalwood is also expensive. Australian Sandalwood is more commonly used, but experts say it's not as beneficial.

However, the health benefits of all Sandalwood Essential Oils include the fact that they're a sedative, a hypertensive, and a memory booster.

Insomnia causes many health risk including high blood pressure, fuzzy brain, anxiety and restlessness. Sandalwood Essential Oil can be taken with milk to help with reducing blood pressure. This oil can also help to improve your memory and can stimulate greater concentration.

Sandalwood keeps your brain cool, relaxed and less stressed. It's a natural sedative, but it's recommended that you don't use this oil raw on your skin. You should mix it with a carrier oil like coconut oil or almond oil.

Sandalwood Essential Oil is great for aromatherapy. It blends well with Bergamot, Lavender, Vetiver, Ylang Ylang and more.

Plant Therapy Essential Oils Marjoram

Plant Therapy Essential Oils Marjoram is extracted from fresh and dried leaves of the marjoram plant (Origanum Marjorana).

As a sedative and nervine, it's effective in fighting insomnia and has a calming and sedating quality. Marjoram Essential Oil helps to lower high blood pressure and relieves nervousness and anxiety.

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Marjoram is also used to relieve snoring and treat sleep apnea. 

This essential oil doesn't pose any health risks and the company, Plant Therapy, aims to provide you with a great experience by providing pure essential oils.

Marjoram Essential Oil blends with Bergamot, Cedarwood, Chamomile, Tea Tree Oil and Eucalyptus Oil.

Now Foods Cedarwood Essential Oil

Now Foods Cedarwood (Juniperus Virginiana) Essential Oil is extracted from the Cedar wood tree. Also known as Cedar Essential Oil, it has many medicinal qualities.

If you're suffering from insomnia, this essential oil is for you, as cedarwood oil is a great sedative. It has a calming effect on your mind, relieves anxiety and helps you to sleep soundly.

Be careful here, because Cedarwood oil is very potent. It cannot be ingested and it may cause skin irritations if used in high concentration.

Cedarwood oil is wonderful for aromatherapy. If you’d like to blend it, try this essential oil with Bergamot, Cinnamon, Frankinsence, Juniper, Jasmine, Lavender, Lemon, and Neroli.

As a company, Now Foods has been in business since the 60’s. Its vision continues to be to meet customers’ needs for health foods that are affordable and high quality.

Edens Garden Valerian Essential Oil

Edens Garden Valerian Essential Oil (Valeriana officialis) comes from the Valerian flower. It's a plant that's been used and studied for centuries, it's therapeutic uses being described by Hippocrates, and you may have tried Valerian tea in the past. This essential oil has many healing qualities and some call it a miracle plant.

Valerian is used to treat insomnia and improve sleep quality. You can use this oil to improve your mood and reduce stress and anxiety.

Valerian essential oil is potent, so use it wisely. If you consume large quantities of it, you could experience cramps, dizziness or possibly an allergic reaction.  Eden's Garden is a company that provides and sells essential oils that are 100% pure with no additives.

Plant Guru Clary Sage Essential Oil

Plant Guru Clary Sage Essential Oil (Salvia Sclarea) is distilled from the leaves of the Clary Sage plant. In some circles it's called Muscatel Oil. Clary Sage oil is mostly used for protecting vision, but it has other important medicinal qualities.

If you need help getting some sleep, Clary Sage oil can improve self-esteem, confidence and fight depression. It's a euphoric, nervine, sedative and hypotensive.

Therefore, it can be used to treat depression, nervousness, sleeplessness, and lower blood pressure. If you need to calm down, concentrate and or some sleep, then Clary Sage oil maybe for you. Clary Sage has even been used to fight drug addiction.

When using Clary Sage essential oil, be careful not to consume alcohol or narcotic drugs, because the essential oil could possibly increase the intoxicating effects. Lastly, Clary Sage Oil blends with citrus fruits, Juniper, Sandalwood, Lavender and Pine.

Plant Guru produces and sells various essential oils. Their goal is to provide quality essential oils at a fair price.

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Essential Oils Buying Guide

Many essential oils suppliers sell their products online and in health food stores. Buying online is usually cheaper than buying in brick and mortar stores.

There are many suppliers to choose from and purchasing essential oils can be very confusing. Before making a purchase, know the reason you are buying essential oils and what is the outcome you are hoping to accomplish.

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Things You Need to Know When Buying Essential Oils

Four Types of Grading

1.  Grade A is therapeutic and 100% pure and unadulterated oil. It has to go through a number of rigorous distillation processes.

2.  Grade B is a natural/food grade essential oil that's organic and certified, with a small amount of trace chemicals.

3.  Grade C is for perfumery and is highly concentrated. It contains some chemicals and solvents.

4.  Floral Water means water soluble fragrances. It's low quality and synthetically made and mostly used for skin products.

Bottling and Storing

Essential oils should be stored in a brown glass bottle, not clear glass or plastic bottles. Don't buy bottles with rubber eyedropper type bulbs on top. Pure essential oils are so strong that over time, they could eat away plastic bottles or rubber eyedroppers. When purchasing essential oils, also need to be sure the bottles are well sealed.

Labeling

Labels must include the plants botanical name, common name and show that the essential oil is 100% pure. An example is that the botanical name of Lavender is Lavendula angustifolia. The label must also state the origin of the oil extracts.

Suppliers or Companies

Research and evaluate the reputation of the supplier and their knowledge of the industry. Read customer reviews about the companies before making purchases. Make sure the suppliers and companies are reputable and trustworthy.

Cost

The old saying, “you get what you pay for” is true when buying essential oils. Grade A oils are the most expensive, because of the quality, purity and extraction process. Be careful of vendors that sell all of their oils for the same exact price, as some oils are more expensive than others.

One example is that Indian Sandalwood is very rare, so it'll be more expensive than Australian Sandalwood, which is much more common.

If an essential oil is really cheap, then it should send up a red flag. It's wise to research the average cost of the essential oils before making a purchase.

Conclusion

Choose the best essential oils for sleep and relaxation by trying out the products on the list above. These essential oils can be inhaled or applied to the skin, but follow all recommendations and label warnings before use.

Some essential oils are very potent and need a carrier oil to be added. Examples of carrier oils are: almond, coconut, grapeseed or olive.

You can create blends to fight your insomnia and can create recipes or conduct research to find additional resources about essential oils. Through trial and error, you'll find what is most effective for your body.

The most important thing is that you get to the point where you can enjoy a good, uninterrupted night of sleep with the help of essential oils and aromatherapy. I've used all of these oils to help you sleep and they're all natural and beneficial for your health.

This is an alternative medicine that is natural and has been in existence for centuries, so take a deep breath, lie back, and relax.