Tag Archives: aromatherapy for insomnia

At your wit’s end? Aromatherapy for relief from stress and insomnia

Are you tensed, overstressed and drained out completely? Do you wake up in the middle of nights never to sleep again? Are you anxious about what will happen next even when you know that it is silly to be anxious? Maybe you are caught in the web most Americans are in – the vicious cycle of stress, insomnia and anxiety which occur mostly in hyperactive and over-worked individuals who do not know what it is to relax. In this post-modern era, we are constantly working to exceed ourselves. We strive, slog and do everything in our capacity (and not in our capacity) to achieve what we deem to be phenomenal at the expense of our health.

Stress and insomnia cure: Traditional medicine recommends oral drugs for the cure of stressful conditions and sleeplessness. Though these drugs work, the problem with them is, they inflict a curse of side effects on patients who take them. The medications actually cause more stress than what was already there. Some medications also take patients into a chain reaction, where they are helpless without a particular drug. This causes acute withdrawal symptoms in drugs.


Aromatherapy is a god-send medicine when it comes to curing illnesses or relieving stressful conditions. An effective pain relief therapy, aromatic essential oils work wonders on your body, without any side effects.

Aromatherapy for stress relief: As you all know, aromatherapy oils are natural essence oils that can relieve you of physical, emotional, chemical and mental stress. It alleviates muscular fatigue, combats physiological pain and fights stress-related insomnia in patients.

1. Physical stress: Physical stress is caused by the over-exertion of the body, physically. Though complete rest would rejuvenate a tired body, essential oils aid in such revival. You can try clary sage, cypress, eucalyptus, thyme, peppermint and rosemary oils for relieving physical stress.

2. Environmental stress caused by loud noise, bright light, drive through heavy traffic, constant annoyances, pollution etc. can be treated with oils like basil, cedarwood, chamomile, geranium and coriander.

3. Chemical stress
can occur when you overeat or subject yourself to a lot of medications. Abuse of drugs or over-use of oral medications can result in chemical stress due to the accumulation of toxins in the body. This can be cleared off by inhaling clary sage, lavender, lemon, rosemary, grapefruit, geranium and lemon.

4. Emotional/mental stress
is caused by depressive thoughts, sufferance of painful emotional problems for a prolonged time and very low self-esteem. Basil, chamomile, bergamot, grapefruit, sandalwood and geranium can be used to get relief from mental stress.

You can use essential oils to even clear unwanted materials or substances in your environment. Cypress, eucalyptus lemon, grapefruit, lavender and rosemary oils can cleanse stale air at your home or office and help you breathe aromatic air. Basil, bergamot, birch, coriander, geranium, grapefruit and neroli can improve concentration and make you more creative.

Essential oils for insomnia: Tisserand, an aromatherapist, studied the effect of several oils in hospital patients and found the following essential oils to be effective in treating insomnia: lavender, marjoram, geranium, mandarin, and cardamom. With sedative properties, these oils induced sleep in insomniacs.

Sleepless nights, chaotic mind: 4 essential oil ideas for insomnia cure

Sleep and depression are interconnected. Lack of sleep can lead to depression or sleeplessness itself can be an aftermath of depression. If you are already depressed, your sleeplessness will increase your depression. If not, your insomnia will be a precursor to a state of depression. This is because, when you realize that you are sleepless, your worry increases. You start worrying about your helpless state and that leads to depression or a gloomy feeling ultimately. The vicious cycle continues to panic you unless and until your clear insomnia from your life. Essential oils can help with insomnia cure if used in the right way.

Aromatherapy for insomnia: Aromatherapy essential oils has been widely used in insomnia cure. This is because the therapeutic effect of essential not just to heal your physical wounds, but even to help you forget your mental/emotional wounds. When there is emotional healing, heaviness lifts and sleeplessness fades away. Your chaotic mind finally comes to rest.


There can be several reasons for insomnia and stress is one important reason. On the contrary, a good night’s sleep is essential to carry on your daily routine. Life also looks better and well handled when you have rested well the previous night. Another thing is, when you sleep well, you will not worry about sleeplessness and that would alleviate your depression. Aromatherapists prescribe several essential oil blends to help with insomnia. Below are a few of them:

1. Sleepy blend: This blend will put to you to sleep within a few minutes of use. Combine 10 drops of Roman Chamomile, 5 drops of Clary Sage and 5 drops of Bergamot and blend well to make an aromatherapy recipe that can be added to a tissue and kept under your pillow. If you don’t like this pillow technique, you can make a blend at the ratio of 2 drops of Roman Chamomile, 1 drop of Clary Sage and 1 drop of Bergamot to your diffuser and use it one hour before bedtime.

2. Lavender massage: As you know, Lavender is a great oil for inducing sleep and rest and this Lavender oil massage can help you do only that. Mix Lavender with carrier oil (3 to 5 drops is sufficient) and rub it on the back of your neck, along your spine and 1-2 drops at the bottom of each foot. Do this just before bedtime. You can even use Lavender as a diffuser in your bedroom. Or you can soak in bath water of 10 drops of Lavender oil 15 minutes before you go to sleep.

3. Blissful sleep blend: For a good night’s sleep, combine 15 drops of Lavender with 10 drops of Frankincense and 5 to 6 drops of Tangerine. This is a wonderful combination that diffuses in about 15 minutes time. The blend is both therapeutic and heavenly too as the aroma is exotic and relaxing.

4. Insomnia Body Rub: What can be more useful than this body rub which can induce sleep instantly? Combine 4 drops of Clary Sage, 2 drops of Lavender, 3 drops of Valerian, 3 drops of Vetiver and use 6 drops or 3 drops of the blend in 1 tsp of carrier oil. You can use it as a body rub and rub it on to your temples, back and all points that you are comfortable with.