The most common question I get from friends and fellow exhausted, overwhelmed mom friends is how to use essential oils for sleep. Well, make that two common questions: how to use essential oils for sleep and stress! Because let’s face it, in the age of #hotmessmoms (a term I strongly reject, by the way), most of us are completely exhausted, and stressed to the max.
I’ve been using essential oils to help with sleep for almost two years now, and I’m here to tell you this sh*t isn’t a joke. Before I started using essential oils, I was a complete skeptic. Like, big time skeptic. Big, big, BIG time skeptic. Queen of rolling my eyes and laughing at people who used these little bottles and claimed they actually worked. I mean, right?!
Well, no, actually. I was so freaking wrong. Essential oils have helped completely transform my home, my wellness, my mental health… and yes, my sleep.
Whether you struggle to fall a sleep, or have a hard time staying asleep, or maybe you just want your dang toddler to sleep through the freaking night (just ONCE!), I’m here to tell you that essential oils can help. Even if you’re a total skeptic – seriously, what do you have to lose?
And by the way… I’ll save the essential oils for kids sleep for another post.
High quality essential oils are a natural way to help your mind and body relax, and sleep more soundly at night.
Essential Oils for Sleep
Research shows that essential oils can provide relief for disrupted sleep and improve sleep quality in adults. All you have to do is a quick Google search to be completely inundated by information on how the two work together. Yes, there are endless personal testimonials. But there’s also plenty of science and data and research for you left brain folks.
Essential Oils Most Commonly Associated with Sleep
There are a handful of single oils and blends that are most commonly associated with sleep support:
- Lavender essential oil: this is probably the most widely known oil associated with relaxation and sleep. It’s used everywhere for its calming properties, so why not use it to your advantage at bedtime? It eases tension and induces relaxation with a calming and fresh scent. It’s the ideal companion for bed linens and one of the best essential oils to apply before you go to sleep, as its soothing aroma is mild and relaxing. Try Lavender essential oil applied to the bottom of your feet before bed, or mix the oil in a spray bottle with distilled water and spritz it on your pillow. The sweet, floral aroma is a great cue to your mind and body that it’s time to settle down.
- Frankincense essential oil: promotes feelings of calm, peace, relaxation, and focus. Frankincense is a complex and woodsy scent, and is one of the best essential oils available for creating a peaceful and meditative space. Create calm and focus as you clear your head before rest by diffusing Frankincense essential oil during bedtime meditation practice. And try adding a drop of Frankincense essential oil to your night cream.
- Stress Away essential oil: brings feelings of peace and tranquility… and melts away the stress.
- Vetiver essential oil: a super powerful oil that can be a bit intimidating, with a complex aroma and a thicker texture than most essential oils. BUT with Vetiver essential oil in your diffuser at nighttime, you’ll soon realize that it’s one of the best oils for bedtime. It helps your body and brain with overstimulation, so you can calm down and prepare for a good night rest.
- Valerian: another V one for you! This is another great calming oil, promotes calm feelings and relaxation, and even helps ease nervous energy.
- Cedarwood essential oil: a sweet, woodsy aroma, ideal for making bedtime your favorite time of the day. Use it for its gentle aroma or for its many topical benefits. As a tool for bedtime, this helps your brain to stop processing, so you can drift off to sleep.
- Roman Chamomile: sweet floral aroma is calming and soothing to the mind and body, making it one of the most often used essential oils for sleep.
- Sleepyize: don’t be fooled by the fact this is sold in the kids line! This is a lovely oil for kids and adults. However it’s prediluted with kids in mind.
- Bergamot and orange essential oils: both citrus aromas are adaptogen, meaning they can be both uplifting and calming, depending on what your body needs at the time. But these can both calm and reduce anxious feelings, which are often the culprit for keeping us up at night!
Different Ways To Use Essential Oils for Sleep
My favorite way to use essential oils at bedtime to help promote a good night’s sleep is to diffuse a blend of oils on my nightstand. This is the least complicated way for me (and convenience wins around here), plus, the fact that my diffuser can run all night helps ensure I reap the benefits of essential oils all night long!
But there are many ways you can incorporate essential oils into your nighttime routine. Here are just a few:
- Make a cup of calming tea
- Add essential oils to a pre-bedtime bath
- Indulge in a quick foot soak
- Add a few drops of essential oil in your night cream
- Apply essential oils to your body topically with an easy to use roll-on or massage
- Diffuser oils using a high quality, long running diffuser on your nightstand
- Create a linen spray and spritz your pillow and sheets before bedtime
- Make a veggie capsule with a few safe to ingest oils
- Take a pre-made supplement like Young Living’s SleepEssence
The Ultimate List of 20+ Diffuser Blends for Sleep
As you can see there are tons of ways you can incorporate essential oils into your nightly routine, but don’t let the endless options overwhelm you. If you’re desperate for some kind of sleep support and just need to start somewhere, I suggest starting simple. Try a made for you roll on like Young Living’s and Tranquil products, or buy yourself a high quality diffuser and a few of these go to essential oils for sleep.
Diffusing essential oils at night is a habit now. It takes 30 seconds for me to prep my diffuser each night, and it’s something I can’t go without.
If you thinking diffusing essential oils is the route you want to go for sleep support at night, below are the 3 diffuser blends that I can’t get enough of at night.
Sweet Dreams
4 Lavender
2 Cedarwood
2 Vetiver
Lights Out
4 Gentle Baby
4 Tangerine
Heavenly Dreams
4 Gentle Baby
3 Valor
2 Sara
And don’t worry… there are a lot more where these came from! I’ve rounded up over 20 amazing diffuser blends made just for sleep.
Get my complete list of 21 diffuser blends for sleep, right here!