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Sleep is so critical to your health.
It allows you mind and body to relax, recover and repair so that you stay mentally and physically healthy. According to Dr. Datis Kharrazian, sleep is your most powerful immune ally.
Restful sleep, defined as the ability to both fall asleep and stay asleep, allows time for your body to rest and repair, detoxify, balance blood sugar levels, burn calories and reset our energy reserves. Without restful sleep, you may feel fatigued and your body compensates with cortisol spikes, sugar cravings and other tricks to keep us awake and functioning.
There is also growing evidence that sleep cycles impact other cycles in the body including the rhythmic patterns of the digestive and immune systems. When we sleep, the brain produces 90 minute cycles of slow wave sleep. This is followed by periods of rapid eye movement (REM) during which dreams occur. During the night, the gut also produces 90 minute slow wave muscle contractions which are followed by short burst of rapid movement. Poor sleep cycles can disrupt this digestive function and the healing process within the gut.
You may struggle to fall asleep or wake up during the night and struggle to fall back asleep. Essential oils are known for their sedative properties that to help relax the mind and body to reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep and improve sleep quality. For example, Lavender oil is known for its sedative effects.
What’s more essential oil blends can be used to support the regions of the brain and organ systems that can support or detract from restful sleep for both adults and children.
In order to really solve sleep challenges, you need to look at the underlying issues. There are four core issues that can impact your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. The purpose of this article is to help you identify the root cause of your sleep challenge and the best essential oil blend to support that underlying issue.
If you struggle to fall asleep or experience racing thoughts or worries while lying in bed, your natural sleep and wake cycles, known as your circadian rhythms, might be a little out of balance.
As you may know, your stress hormone, cortisol, is released by your adrenal glands. The sleep hormone, melatonin, is released by the pineal gland, a small pine cone shaped endocrine gland located near the center of your brain. Melatonin also has many other neuroprotective benefits.
Your cortisol rhythms are supposed to be highest in the morning and then wane as the day wears on. When you are active at night and slow in the morning, the cortisol patterns are reversed. This throws off the circadian rhythm because cortisol and melatonin have an antagonistic relationship.
Any disruption in your circadian rhythms as a result of diet or lifestyle choices or toxicity in your pineal gland can throw off melatonin levels. A lack of melatonin almost always correlates with chronic disease. For example, decreased production of melatonin is frequently found in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
To restore optimal melatonin levels, you need to consider your circadian rhythms, your pineal gland and the interaction of other hormones, like cortisol, that can disrupt melatonin levels.
For example, elevated cortisol levels at night actually turn off melatonin production. Similarly, if melatonin is elevated then cortisol is depressed. I like to illustrate this point with the image of a teeter totter. When the stress hormone (cortisol) is high, it forces the sleep hormone (melatonin) to be low. People often supplement with the melatonin hormone, which can help in the short term.
Unfortunately, your body, specifically your pineal gland, is supposed to make its own melatonin. External supplementation of the hormone sends the signal to the body that it is sufficient in melatonin production and actually reduces your body’s own production of the hormone. In other words, it throws off the body’s own internal thermostat for self-regulation.
Another option is to help the pineal gland return to its innate intelligence and release more melatonin naturally. Your pineal gland performs several incredibly important functions for your health, including producing and secreting melatonin, a powerful hormone that helps you fall asleep, detoxify and anti-inflame. Unfortunately, environmental toxins like metals, glyphosate and fluoride can damage your pineal gland and impair its ability to produce and secrete adequate levels of melatonin.
Circadian Rhythm™ blend can help activate your pineal gland and trigger the natural release of melatonin when applied to specific locations on the head (top of the skull, back of the skull and on the skull right above the ears). This method emulates the innate intelligence of the body and has been extremely effective for those suffering from sleep issues and anxiety.
If you again think of the teeter totter example, when melatonin then increases (goes up), it forces cortisol levels down, effectively serving as a back door to lowering stress, anxiety and the racing thoughts that keep many of us wide awake when our bodies are exhausted and longing for sleep.
My daughter suffered from night time anxiety for over a year. I tried everything I could think of and often just spent the night holding her while she cried, trying to soothe her fears. The Circadian Rhythm™ blend was really a game changer for us. Not only did it help her fall asleep almost instantly, but within a week she reported that her night time anxiety was gone.
An imbalance in the circadian rhythm can present with indicators such as:
We have found the following oils helpful for clients who struggle to fall asleep:
Nighttime waking, awakening shortly after falling asleep or waking up throughout the night, can often be attributed to:
Sudden drops in blood sugar during the sleep cycle can cause the body to release stress hormones that in turn wakes us up and makes us feel wide awake.
Your brain and body need a steady supply of energy, known as blood sugar or glucose, while you sleep to ensure restful sleep. If your blood sugar plummets during the night, your adrenal glands release cortisol (a stress hormone) as an emergency blood-sugar-raising tactic. This cortisol surge is what wakes you up and makes you feel wide awake. This is known as nocturnal hypoglycemia.
Blood sugar issues or your brain’s increased need for glucose can compromise your sleep. For example, if you are suffering from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or excessive stress, your brain will have increased glucose demands during the fasting period of sleep. This is because when your brain is healing, it requires even greater demands for fuel might make you more likely to wake up in the middle of the night.
The connection between sleep and blood sugar issues goes beyond the obvious fact that when you are tired, you will crave sugar and carbohydrates for quick energy. Researchers at Boston University School of medicine found that as the amount of sleep decreases, blood sugar increases, escalating the issue. The study found that people who slept less than six hours a night had blood sugar problems compared to those who slept for eight hours or more. This has to do in part with burning sugar versus fat for fuel.
You are designed to burn fat during the sleep cycle because it burns long and slow, like a log on a campfire, in contrast to sugar and carbs which burn quickly, more like kindling on a fire. Because of undetected blood sugar issues, many people never go into fat metabolism during the night, in other words, they struggle to achieve ketosis.
Instead, their bodies attempt to burn sugar and carbs until the supply runs out, causing blood sugar to plummet. This then triggers a cortisol response which then wakes you up with so much energy that you could go clean the kitchen and have trouble falling back to sleep.
If you find yourself stuck in this vicious cycle of sleep deprivation raising blood sugar, and unstable blood sugar in turn compromising quality sleep, you might consider the following oils helpful:
According to Chinese Medicine, each organ has a time of the day/night where it is most active.
The Liver springs into action between 1 a.m. to 3 a. m. If you wake up at this time, it could be the liver is overloaded and toxins act as an irritant to your body, waking you up and fraying your nerves.
Your liver processes everything you eat or drink and filters and detoxifies any harmful substances from the blood. It also plays a critical role in fat digestion and managing your energy by storing and releasing blood sugar.
Your liver might be overwhelmed attempting to detoxify from toxins or emotions like anger, rage, frustration or resentment. Unlike blood sugar night waking, liver and gall bladder trigger awakenings are often accompanied by a feeling of grogginess and you might find it easier to fall back asleep.
For night-time waking due to liver issues or gall bladder issues, consider:
Hormonal ups and downs from menstruation, pregnancy, and midlife fluctuations can impact sleep. For example, the hormone progesterone promotes restful sleep and a drop in estrogen can leave you more vulnerable to stress. Similar to blood sugar events, hot flashes are also caused by a rush of cortisol that alerts your mind and wakes you up. Several essential oil blends can help balance hormones.
For night-time waking due to hormonal issues, consider:
Essential oils are known for their sedative, calming and relaxing properties that can help your body relax into restful sleep. The sleep enhancing effects of essential oils are significantly enhanced when several oils are combined as part of a blend.
Research and clinical experience consistently demonstrate that essential oil blends consistently improve mood and sleep quality. For example, a study found improved sleep promoting benefits from inhaling a blend of essential oils, including lavender, cedarwood and oils high in the constituent piperonal, extracted from bay laurel.
These blends that included helped improve total sleep time, duration of sustained sleep periods. They also significantly reduced early morning awakening.
In searching for an alternative to over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs, we found that sleep issues lend themselves especially well to essential oil support, including the following blends:
Helps to balance your adrenal glands which release energy supporting hormones like cortisol. Using Adrenal™ during the day can help to balance your energy rhythms throughout the day and the night.
Helps you fall asleep by triggering the pineal gland to naturally release the sleep hormone melatonin.
Helps calm the body and the mind. It can be especially helpful in calming an over-active mind and busy children.
Helps balance hormone levels to reduce night time hormonal wake ups and sleep disruptions.
Congestion in the gall bladder can slow down detoxification and contribute to night waking. Supporting your Gall Bladder™ helps you stay asleep and gently return to sleep.
Helps balance hormones and support restful sleep.
Helps to balance your stress response so that you can more easily relax into restful sleep.
Waking up around 3 a.m. often correlates with your liver. It is during the evening that your liver is the most active. Waking up around this time usually means that your liver is over-worked and could use additional support.
When you detoxify your physical organ, you release both physical and emotional toxins. The liver is known to house emotions of anger, frustration and rage. As physical toxins work their way out of your body, emotions like anger work their way out as well and Liver Support™ helps to gently release those emotions.
Helps you return to restful sleep when you wake up around 1 a.m. and feel wide awake. If blood sugar drops during the night, your adrenal glands release stress hormones to support emergency blood sugar levels which wakes you up. The pancreas releases the hormone insulin to help carry the blood sugar into the cells which helps your body relax so you can easily return to sleep.
Helps shift your body out of the state of chronic stress response where increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol stimulates the mind and body to a highly alert and wakeful state and depress the sleep hormone melatonin. Dropping into the parasympathetic state allows your body to relax and make sleep more accessible.
Helps balance hormone levels to calm sleep disruptions and help alleviate hormonal discomforts, like reducing cramping and bloating, along with promoting relaxation. Formulated with Rose Geranium and Bergamot Essential Oils that both help balance hormones naturally, as well as supporting relaxation and reducing the underlying emotional stress that contribute to hormonal imbalances and sleep disturbances .
Helps support relaxation of the mind and body to support restful sleep. This blend is exceptionally gentle and supportive for children.
Can help support the energy and vitality of your Spleen and improve sleep quality.
We have attempted to help you isolate different sleep issues and have also created an online sleep assessment to help clients learn more about specific sleep issues and natural remedies to consider in place of drugs.
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to Vibrant Blue Oils
Subscribe to Vibrant Blue Oils and receive weekly information on oils and how to use them. As a bonus, we’ll send out Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils to your inbox immediately!
Hi!
I used the Sleep product last night and had a great sleep, only getting up once to go to the bathroom!! Yeah! And I had a ton of energy for a very active day. This makes me very hopeful that I am on the right track.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sandy P.
Yay! So happy to hear that!