This blog was updated for accuracy and relevance on November 22nd, 2020

After a long, stressful day, there’s nothing you want more than to hit the hay and sleep. However, many of us struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep. Over time, a lack of truly restful sleep can result in stress, fatigue and even illness.

If you’re having trouble, single essential oils or essential oil blends for sleep may help. However, you might be wondering "What essential oils help you sleep?"

While you may already be familiar with some sleepy-time favorites like Lavender oil and Chamomile oil, at Edens Garden, we offer multiple synergy blends that combine popular peaceful sleep aids with other potent, relaxing pure essential oils. 

Wondering which essential oil or synergy blend to choose? This guide reviews the best essential oils for sleep and explains the difference between our four sleep aid blends. It will also highlight some of the powerhouse oils behind their beneficial effects.

Good Night

Good Night is a balanced sleep blend of floral, herbaceous and rich essential oils. It contains:

• Lavender

• Sweet Marjoram 

• Chamomile

• Bergamot

• Ylang Ylang

• Sandalwood

• Key Lime 

• Lime

• Vanilla 

Good Night has a soft, powdery, clean aroma, with an overall impression of Lavender. Sweet, relaxing Ylang Ylang and woody Sandalwood support the aroma to provide complexity and depth. Finished with refreshing citrus fruits, it’s not overly sweet. 

Beyond its pleasing aroma, its constituent oils help support a good nights sleep.

Lavender

Since Lavender essential oil is in all four of our restorative sleep blends, it’s worth reviewing this oil’s famous properties. Often called the “mother of essential oils,” Lavender is highly anti-inflammatory and soothing and has been used in cultures from Ancient Egypt to Renaissance Italy for a variety of purposes.

Supporting sleep quality is one of Lavender’s most well-known and well-studied attributes.

A 2012 review of current evidence on Lavender and sleep quality weighed the results of four existing trials. The researchers concluded that Lavender can likely help people fall asleep.

Building on this evidence, researchers compared the effects of Lavender aromatherapy to good sleep hygiene (i.e., going to bed at the same time every night). People who inhaled Lavender reported better, more restful sleep than those who practiced good sleep hygiene. What’s more, they felt more refreshed upon waking.

These studies indicate that Lavender can help support sleep, especially when combined with other good habits.

Sandalwood

Sweet, woody Sandalwood is another popular essential oil and contains a compound called santalol that may be able to help people who often wake up during sleep.

In 2007, researchers studied the effects of santalol on rats. They found that it helped to improve sleep cycles—even in test subjects with impaired olfactory systems! They postulate that when used in aromatherapy, Sandalwood enters the bloodstream through olfaction, carrying a sedative effect throughout the body. 

If your nose is clogged during allergy season, Good Night may be an excellent choice. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy its balanced, dreamy aroma.

Sleep Ease

Sleep Ease is complex and almost completely floral. It is powdery, gentle, cool and gives you a feeling of walking through a flower garden. It contains:

• Geranium

• Rosewood

• Coriander Seed

• Lavender

• Chamomile

• Palmarosa

• Lemon

• Ylang Ylang

• Jasmine

• Rose 

You already know about Lavender's soothing effects. But did you know that Rose can help relax you before bed, too?

Rose

Sweet, floral Rose is a frequent addition to perfumes and skincare ingredients. It’s known to nourish the skin and the senses, too—Rose leaves you feeling beautiful and calm.

Research is beginning to investigate the science behind this effect.

• Rose has measurable stress-combatting properties. Rose aromatherapy has been shown to help combat nerves in women experiencing pregnancy for the first time.

• A 2016 study on Rose, sleep, and dreaming tracked 26 women’s sleep cycles over the course of a week. Those who received Rose aromatherapy had better dream recall, which may also indicate they experienced better sleep

If stress is a factor in your sleepless nights, rosy Sleep Ease may help you put your mind to rest so you can experience sweet dreams.

Sleepy Head

Sleepy Head is much earthier and more grounded than our other sleep blends. With Cedarwood and Petitgrain as the overarching aromas, it’s the perfect choice for anyone not big on florals and sweets. 

• Lavender

• Cedarwood

• Frankincense

• Tangerine

• Petitgrain

• Ylang Ylang

• Sweet Marjoram

• Chamomile

Supportive Lavender is in the background, but Cedarwood has its own potent effects.

Cedarwood

Cedarwood is known for its grounding, woody aroma. It can help you find your center during a stressful moment, and it may help improve your sleep, too.

• A 2007 study found that cedrol, found in Cedarwood as well as Pine, affects the Autonomic Nervous System to reduce stress.

• A more recent 2020 study found that Cedarwood balm can help reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol (which also causes inflammation). 

Like Sleep Ease, Sleepy Head is a great essential oil blend for anyone whose nervous thoughts keep them up at night. 

Sound Asleep

Part of our OK For Kids line, Sound Asleep is a blend designed for children two-years-old and up. After all, it’s not only adults who struggle with restless nights. However, adults will love the rich, sophisticated and sweetly floral Sound Asleep Synergy Blend, too. 

Like Good Night, Sound Asleep is Lavender-forward, but with an elevated twist. It includes:

• Lavender

• Sweet Marjoram 

• Grapefruit 

• Damiana

• Cistus

• Osmanthus

With some more exotic ingredients in this essential oil recipe, Sound Asleep has unique properties.

Cistus

Cistus is a flowering shrub found throughout the Mediterranean. In Morocco, this pure essential oil is prized for a variety of effects, including supporting mood.

Are you struggling to uncover what helps with fatigue at night when trying to sleep? A 2013 study of Cistus’ effect on mood (conducted in rats) found that the oil had clear immunomodulatory effects and also supported better sleep cycles. This led researchers to conclude that the oil may have applications similar to St. John's Wort. 

Osmanthus

Also called the sweet olive, osthmanthus trees are used medicinally throughout Asia. The floral absolute comes from the flowering osthmanus tree and a frequent ingredient in some of our most loved synergy blends. 

Osmanthus pure absolute oil can help:

• Reduce stress

• Protect healthy brain function

• Support healthy sleep

Thanks to these ingredients, positive Sound Asleep may have a beneficial calming effect on the whole family!

Using Essential Oils For Better Sleep

Which single essential oils or sleep diffuser blends are best for you? If you're looking for other recommendations, consider Peppermint, Roman Chamomile, Patchouli, Juniper Berry, Clary Sage, Eucalyptus or Vetiver oil. 

Each single essential oil and essential oil diffuser blend contain 100% pure, top quality essential oils that will keep you on the road to a healthy lifestyle.

For best results, use as follows:

• Diffuse your essential oil before bed. You can even set your Diamond Diffuser to run on and off throughout the night! Follow the instructions to ensure you’re inhaling a healthy amount of essential oil when using the aromatherapy diffuser.

•  Opt for pre-diluted Roll-On essential oils and apply to your throat, neck and temples before sleep. This can be a perfect solution if you’re traveling and are unable to bring your diffuser along with you since they are already pre-diluted with a carrier oil. 

• Achieve better results by practicing good sleep hygiene. That means avoiding alcohol and caffeine before bed, turning off screens an hour before bedtime and going to bed at the same time every night.

If you still need a little extra get-up-and-go in the morning as you start your new bedtime routine, check out our blog for additional tips (i.e. essential oil diffuser recipes for sleep and other aromatherapy recipes).

Over time, using essential oils may help you decrease sleep problems (such as anxiety or insomnia) by helping your body maintain healthier sleep cycles and feel better throughout the day!