Sleep is a very important phase of the day!!! To be in a good mood, in good shape and to enjoy your day, you need to sleep well, everyone knows that. But getting a good night's sleep and having effective and restorative sleep is not so easy! Some are light sleepers and wake up for nothing, others have difficulty falling asleep, the last ones open their eyes at 4 a.m. and find themselves unwittingly thinking about the problems of the day. In short, the result is the same: sleep is not restorative and the day that follows will be difficult, less effective and we will be more easily irritable or stressed. In this file, we will detail several techniques for relaxing, the essential oils that help us spend a night without waking up, the synergies to diffuse to fall asleep, the plants to take to avoid waking up early in the morning. In short, a healthy lifestyle, 100% natural for a good night's sleep...and a good day!
This file details:
Oral essential oils against insomnia
Ultra effective. In a spoon of honey or under the tongue: here is the shock duo for peaceful nights.
- 2 drops ofshell marjoram EO
- 1 drop ofNeroli HE
- a spoonful of honey
How to use it ?
Take at bedtime. Not suitable for pregnant women and children.
Synergy of essential oils to sleep well and fall asleep well
Calming, anti-stress and relaxing, here is a synergy for the evening. Ideal for helping you fall asleep. And what’s more, it smells like citrus fruits!
Mix:
- 10 drops ofnoble chamomile essential oil
- 30 drops ofravintsara essential oil
- 10 drops ofneroli essential oil
- 30 drops offine lavender essential oil
How to use it ?
Diffuse 10 drops of the mixture during the half hour before bedtime.
Massage with essential oils against insomnia and stress
On the solar plexus: this synergy is calming and soothing for the evening or even the day
- 2 drops ofNeroli HE
- 2 drops of"HE" by ravintsara
- 2 drops ofTrue lavender HE
- 6 drops ofApricot kernel HVt
How to use it ?
Apply to the solar plexus or the inside of the wrists before bedtime. Suitable for pregnant women (not during the first 3 months!) and children from 3 years old.
Essential oils against nightmares for children
The blend that does it all: helps you sleep and repels nightmares!
- 2 ml d'"HE" by ravintsara
- 2 ml d'True lavender HE
- 2 ml d'mandarin essence
How to use it ?
Diffuse 3 drops of the mixture in the bedroom during the hour before bedtime. Suitable for children aged 3 and over.Contraindications:
These synergies should not be used in pregnant women (during the entire pregnancy), breastfeeding women and children under 7 years old.
These properties and methods of use do not constitute medical advice. For therapeutic use consult a doctor.
What is sleep?
Sleep is a third of our life. It is vital, just like breathing and digestion. As sleep deepens, brain functions slow down, blood pressure drops, body temperature and motor activity decrease.
During a night's sleep, the sleeper first goes through a state between wakefulness and sleep, or light sleep which lasts only a few minutes (stage N1) then the sleeper actually falls asleep, this is sleep (stage N2). Then he falls asleep even deeper, this is called deep sleep (stage N3). It is during this phase that we recover from physical fatigue, the whole body is at rest (this phase is therefore very important). The brain works in slow motion and also rests. This lasts about 20% of total sleep time.
Then deep sleep is interrupted and gives way to another light sleep or paradoxical sleep during which brain activity is intense (it is called paradoxical sleep because this phase simultaneously presents signs of very deep sleep and signs of awakening). This is dream sleep (the majority of dreams take place during this phase) or REM sleep (from “Rapid Eye Movements”). This phase represents approximately 25% of sleep.
An entire cycle lasts approximately 90 minutes. A normal night will be made up of 3 to 5 cycles which will be filled with long periods of deep sleep for the first cycles (physical recovery being a priority) then long periods of paradoxical sleep for the last cycles. Hence our impression of dreaming more at the end of the night.
What is the ideal length of a night's sleep?
The length of the ideal night's restful sleep is impossible to determine. This depends on each individual and is linked to genetic and environmental aspects. Everyone must therefore determine their own needs. The average adult will sleep 8 hours but some will need 10 hours of sleep while others will be happy with 6 hours.
Essential oils to sleep well!
Bad night = bad day. To make your nights (and days) go as smoothly as possible, we offer you some solutions! In the majority of cases, it is not necessary to resort to heavy artillery such as sleeping pills and other anxiolytics of all kinds. A few plants, a healthy lifestyle and a diffusion of soothing essential oils most often do the trick.
Here is the list of our favorite essential oils for a cloudless night and a stress-free day:
True lavender essential oil:
The best known and probably the most effective in cases of insomnia, stress and depression. It helps you fall asleep and relaxes you throughout the night. Suitable for children to prevent nightmares!
Beware of allergic skin reactions that it can cause.
Mandarin essential oil:
To avoid waking up at the end of the night. The specialist in early morning insomnia! like sweet orange: citrus fruits are calming and relaxing. The tangerine tree is well suited to children and its smell is pleasant to them!
Be careful, it is photo sensitizing.
Neroli essential oil:
It is relaxing and soothing: in cases of insomnia but also deep sadness. Ideal for not waking up tired and enjoying a truly restful sleep. The HE that restores self-confidence!
No contraindication: it is authorized during the first 3 months of pregnancy after approval from your doctor!
Ravintsara essential oil:
For insomnia linked to a little depression. Perfect in cases of mental and nervous exhaustion. It is neurotonic and rebalancing.
Noble chamomile essential oil:
For all types of insomnia linked to a nervous disorder: Stress, insomnia, anxiety, mourning, agitation. It is calming for the central nervous system and sedative! ... diffused or on the skin, it is also suitable for children.
Shell marjoram essential oil:
For nervous disorders such as stress, agitation, irritability, etc.
Not suitable for pregnant women. To be diluted for skin application.
Understanding insomnia
Insomnia results in non-restorative sleep: having difficulty falling asleep and waking up several times during the night or, conversely, waking up very early in the morning without being able to go back to sleep. Insomnia problems affect 1 in 5 people. With the consequences that we have already mentioned: irritability, persistent fatigue, reduced physical performance, etc.
Often insomnia begins with external stress, work, death, divorce... This stress generates anxiety and/or depression. Then one thing leads to another and it becomes chronic and after a few years we no longer even know why we don't sleep well: insomnia has become psychogenic, that is to say induced by our unconscious but without any longer any real external cause. The fear of not sleeping prevents you from sleeping! and the problem is getting bigger and bigger.
Here are some tips to avoid taking sleeping pills, or to try to stop them… To sleep well without taking anything or simply with the help of a few plants and essential oils.
Why is it important to sleep well?
We all need sleep. Sleep is essential for intellectual functions. Indeed, lying in bed without sleeping can allow us to recover from physical fatigue, but only real sleep is essential to recover our intellectual abilities (learning, adaptation and memorization)… and to have a good day.
Sleep is also important for the immune system and for growth in children. There are psychogenic growth delays in children whose sleep has been impaired during early childhood.
It should also be noted that it is more than important to promote good sleep in adolescents who are in the middle of an exam, because it is during deep sleep that we focus and memorize the material studied during the day more effectively.
Tips for a good night's sleep and restful sleep. Generally speaking, to sleep well you must:
- Sleep in a cool room (too high a temperature prevents you from sleeping well) and ventilated during the day
- Know your sleep cycles (rhythm) and respect them
- Have a regular sleep schedule
- Exercise well during the day to sleep well at night
- Avoid the existing ones in the second part of the afternoon: tea, coffee, vitamin C, coca cola, etc.
- Also avoid intense sport after 7 p.m. and favor relaxing activities: reading, music, etc.
- Warning: screens are our false friends! Iphone, tablets, computer, TV: tire our eyes and give us headaches. If you absolutely have to work in the evening, choose a relaxing activity 15 minutes before bed (drink tea, read a magazine, take a bath) and above all: no screens in bed! Which brings me to my next point…
- The bedroom (the bed) should be a relaxing place and not a place of work: bring work into your bed, and it will encroach on your night!
- As far as possible, do not eat too copiously in the evening: you must eat “like a king in the morning, like a prince at noon and like a pauper in the evening”. All dietitians will tell you this.
- A little important advice from someone whose brain doesn't often shut down: if you wake up in the night or early in the morning, you systematically think about the problems of the day before or about everything you are going to have to do the following day : this may seem trivial but always have a small notebook on your bedside table. “Thing noted is half done.” And it works ! You'll never go back to sleep if you think about everything you need to remember the next day. If you write it down, it temporarily gets out of your brain and you'll go back to sleep more easily. To try it is to adopt it !
- Don't look at the time! Yes Yes ! It's proven: your brain unconsciously counts down the number of hours you have left to sleep, you realize that you have 3 hours left, you stress and don't go back to sleep!
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