lavender field

Products like bubble baths, bedding, and pillow sprays containing lavender are sold to promote relaxation and sleep. But is it all hype, or is lavender all that people claim? We’ll explain the truth about lavender and sleep in this post.

Is Lavender An Effective Sleep Aid?

Lavender is often referred to as the most reliable essential oil for sleep, helping to support a peaceful night’s rest. Studies support this, showing that lavender can help people relax, leading to a more restful sleep.

Understanding REM

There are several stages to sleep. You probably know of at least one: rapid eye movement or REM.

We first enter a light sleep where we are likely to be awoken, but we are already relaxing, preparing for deeper sleep, processing memories and encouraging healthy metabolism.

Then we enter slow wave sleep. That is the magic period where we really recharge, repair, and wake up feeling refreshed.

REM sleep is the one where we have crazy dreams, we show rapid eye movement, and our brain is active almost like it’s awake. This stage is needed for healthy learning, memory, and moods. These stages cycle throughout the night. Lavender helps us achieve longer and more satisfying periods of deep sleep.

How to Use Lavender Oil to Help with Sleep

There isn’t one particular way that you have to use lavender to promote sleep.

You can use lavender by:

  • Releasing a drop of lavender sleep drops under your tongue
  • Spraying your pillow with lavender pillow mist
  • Putting a bag of dried lavender or a scented candle near your bed
  • Laying a lavender-filled eye pillow over your eyes
  • Putting lavender essential oil in a diffuser
  • Applying lavender essential oil to your skin (with a carrier oil)
  • Drinking lavender tea
  • Taking a bath in lavender scented bubble bath
  • Place some lavender essential oil in hot water and inhale the steam when you have nasal congestion.

Sleep Rituals

To enhance the benefits of lavender, combine the essential oil with these sleep enhancing rituals:

  1. First, think of sleep as a rhythm that needs to be maintained. You want to encourage your body to build a natural sleep cycle where you go to sleep and wake up around the same time. When you do need to interfere with your sleep schedule, (because we all do sometimes), gradually work yourself back to your normal schedule so you don’t jar yourself. Your body should have a built-in cycle that knows when you need to be awake and when you need to be asleep, and you help maintain that.
  2. Plan 30 minutes of wind down time before going to sleep. Avoid electronics during this time and/or use a blue light filter on your devices.
  3. A healthy sleep ritual is about more than just the night time. During the day, getting sunlight and exercise makes it more likely you’ll get good sleep at night. Sunlight keeps your circadian rhythm going strong. Moderate and more extensive exercise helps you fall asleep faster when night time comes. It also helps improve your health and your moods which encourage quality sleep.

These are just some of the ways you can set yourself up to get a good night’s sleep so the lavender isn’t doing the work all on its own.

Pairing Lavender with CBD Oil

CBD promotes homeostasis, which enhances your natural sleep-wake cycle. When balanced, your sleep-wake cycle helps you to feel more awake in the morning and fall asleep at night. This is why a lot of sleep essentials combine both CBD and lavender.

Products that contain both lavender and CBD oil contain the two best natural aids available. They aren’t like sleeping pills. They won’t make you go to sleep, you won’t wake up drowsy, and their effectiveness won’t diminish if you use them too often. In fact, they are likely to help you build a more natural sleep pattern by encouraging your body to do what it is actually supposed to do, when it is supposed to do it.

OTO CBD Oil Sleep Products

OTO’s award-winning line of CBD oil products includes CBD sleep drops and CBD pillow mist. Both contain lavender extracts to attack sleepless nights from two directions. In a survey, 83% of participants said regular use of OTO helped them to fall asleep and stay asleep.