Essential oils for sleep (for insomnia).

Before we start describing essential oils that can help with insomnia, you need to understand the causes of this condition. Insomnia is a problem with falling asleep or waking up early, or no sleep at all. Experts say that these symptoms can be caused by increased anxiety, an overdeveloped sense of responsibility and inner unconscious fears. Therefore, you should pay attention to your reactions, to the harmony of contacts with the outside world. If a person is constantly tense, afraid of something and experiences a feeling of guilt, then insomnia is within easy reach.

After all, what we so carefully hide during the day is fully manifested at night. Therefore, it is simply irrational to treat insomnia with essential oils. They can help you relax and tidy up your nerves for minor or temporary sleep disturbances. With chronic insomnia, the strongest medicines are powerless, because they do not remove the cause of the disease. Of course, they put them to sleep artificially, but is it worth swallowing pills if it's easier to remove the root cause?

Tips for overcoming insomnia include taking a walk outdoors before bed, taking warm foot baths, and listening to relaxing music. In general, experts in the field of Ayurveda argue that these remedies should become habitual, because in terms of the strength of their effect on the body, they cannot be compared with anything else. It is a natural remedy that is harmless. Of course, if there is no allergy to odors and individual contraindications.

Essential oils for sleep

First, let's figure out which essential oil is good for what in order to use them correctly:

• for those who fall asleep poorly - oil of orange, cedar, mandarin, juniper, myrrh and cypress;
• for those who sleep restlessly - lavender, neroli, chamomile and frankincense oils;
• for complete relaxation - flat-leaved vanilla oil.

These are just a few examples, the rest of the recipes will be given below, in relation to a specific procedure.

 Massage with essential oils for sleep

Massage can be done in the evening and even in the middle of the night, if you have a habit of waking up. At the same time, it is advised to do self-massage of the auricle with any selected oil. Make it with the tip of the little finger, gently massaging the inner surface of the ear.

You can also massage the soles of your feet, your temples, or place a drop of pure essential oil in your ears before going to bed and gently massage the tragus for 1 to 2 minutes. Rub oil into the feet also carefully, because there are a lot of biologically active points there. And if you activate them, then instead of falling asleep, a feeling of cheerfulness and a surge of strength will appear. Self-massage of the face, neck area and shoulders helps some people. It is important to understand which massage will help you, and you can only figure it out empirically.

One tip: do the massage for at least a few days in a row to understand its effectiveness, because it is difficult to figure it out from once.

Oil for massage is prepared as follows: take olive, sesame or corn oil for the base and add a few drops of any essential oil or a few oils to it, to taste. The oil is added little by little, mixed thoroughly and kept in a tightly closed bottle. The base should be 10 ml, and essential oils can be taken in the following proportions:

• Composition 1: geranium - 2 drops, patchouli - 3 drops, chamomile - 4 drops;
• Composition 2: lavender - 2 drops, myrrh - 1 drop, juniper - 3 drops;
• Composition 3: chamomile - 3 drops, lavender - 2 drops;
• Composition 4: rosemary - 1 drop, ginger - 3 drops.
• Composition 5: basil - 1 drop, lavender - 2 drops, orange - 1 drop.

If it is possible to do a back massage, then it is better to do it with lavender, juniper, rose or valerian oil. Compositions 4 and 5 with a sesame oil base are also acceptable.

With mental overexcitation (when thoughts are spinning in the head, although the body is already tired), you can massage your feet with pine or rosemary oils.

Aroma lamps with essential oils for insomnia

For aromatherapy sessions, all of the above-named oils are used, only they are poured into an aroma lamp or a medallion and placed near the bed. You can also put a few drops on the pillow if no special tools are available. In winter, oil is dripped onto a piece of wet cloth and placed on a battery so that the oil gradually evaporates during sleep. The bedroom is filled with a scent that will bring relief and restful sleep. You can simply drip the oil onto a handkerchief and inhale the pleasant scent deeply by mixing at least two oils. For example, chamomile and ylang-ylang, or chamomile and lavender.

It is necessary to take into account what exactly prevents you from falling asleep. If irritation was the cause, the scent of peppermint, jasmine, or rose will work best. You can also use the composition of cedar, sandalwood, bergamot and rose, or composition 5, adding basil to it.

It happens that insomnia is caused by nightmares - a person wakes up from a terrible dream and then cannot fall asleep for a long time. Valerian oils in combination with rose and lemon balm will help to test the emotions of fear in a dream. Or lemon balm with petitgrain and neroli, or lemon balm with dill, valerian, rose and lavender. By saturating the air in your bedroom with these scents, you can help yourself sleep well.

An aromatic pillow with the following recipe will help you fall asleep quickly: drip a drop of cedar, rose and lavender oil onto the pillow. Or put a handkerchief with these scents next to your bed. For the same purpose, use lavender (2 drops), ying-ylang, orange and chamomile - 1 drop each. Try to take a few very deep breaths before bed.

Essential oil baths for sleep

For bath lovers, you can also find a cure for insomnia. The bath itself is relaxing, and if you drop 3 drops of lavender, ylang-ylang and chamomile oil into it, you will fall asleep quickly and sleep will be sound.

Baths are very good at helping to relax with overwork and chronic fatigue. If you add clary sage oil to the water, then fatigue will be removed as if by hand and sleep will be restful. Only on this day you can not take alcohol, otherwise the effect will be exactly the opposite. For those who wake up from any rustle, benzoin, an essential oil made from the resin of the styrax tree, will be useful. It will help make your sleep less sensitive.

Contraindications to the use of essential oils for sleep

Despite the fact that essential oils are natural and seem completely harmless, they still contain the concentrated power of plants, which affects different people in different ways. Therefore, there are categories of people and types of professions in which essential oils must be used with caution. Care must be taken to the use of oils by pregnant women (especially in the first half), not all oils can be given to children, hypertensive patients, low blood pressure, diabetes and oncology, as well as epilepsy and asthma.