Sleep 08 - Smell - Use lavender, it's oil or essence. Light a joss-stick, sprinkle oil or use lavender itself. Make a tea from its flowers.
Lavender has obviously long been associated with helping bring on sleep, easing axiety and helping with menstrual cramping.
Personal experiences with lavender:
The first time I lit a lavender joss-stick, Nigel and me went out like a light. We woke up as if drugged around an hour later. It was that strong of an effect. Unfortunately, I've not been able to replicate the strength of effect since that first time but the effect is still soothing and pleasant all the same. [warning can make your house smell a bit 'granny' like.]
Lavender tea - place several large flower heads into a cup and pour hot water over as you would for a normal tea (use a 'tea ball infuser' to avoid annoying gritty bits), and sweeten if needed. This has worked phenomenally in the past for me to help calm me down and make me restful. I have seen lavender being used in cooking recipes though haven't tried any as yet.
Sprinkle lavender oil onto a pillow to help augment the association of the aroma with sleep.
I'm currently trying to fill many of our garden pots with as many lavender plants as I can so I can then store the flower heads to use for later times.
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Is it the act of association (classical conditioning associating lavendar with sleep and preparing for sleep) or placebo (believing that something has a certain effect strongly enough that the effect is believed to have manifested) that is happening? Could it be both?
Study - 'The effectiveness of nurse-delivered aromatherapy in an acute care setting, showing a significant effect':
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27062964/
Just because something is shown to be a placebo it doesn't mean the effect is without merit. A fascinating BBC Documentary, 'The Power Of The Placebo', BBC Horizon, 2015:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3q4ale
For the sake of fairness it has also been shown, clinically, that the use of lavender has no effect, as seen in this following study - 'Evaluation of aromatherapy with lavender oil on academic stress: A randomized placebo controlled clinical trial':
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6431726/
