If you are at all like me there are times when sleep just doesn't want to come. Sometimes worry causes it but sometimes there is no evident reason. I used to get up, warm up a cup of milk, watch a little tv and eventually fall back to sleep in the recliner. A friend of mine has to have the room completely black -- no LED clock or night light. The author of Beauty Sleep (clinical psychologist Michael Breus, PhD) suggests that if light still gets in to wear an eye mask to bed. I recommended that she take it one step further and wear a lavender-filled eye mask to bed. She likes it because it not only blocks light, but it emits the calming aroma of lavender throughout the night. The combination works for her.
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| 16 pockets filled with lavender buds |
My involvement in lavender has led me to read a great deal about its effects on the central nervous system. I have experimented with different ways of using it for a variety of conditions including headache, depression, anxiety and sleep. What I find works for me is my lavender-filled pillowcase liner. I normally slip it into the pillowcase underneath the pillow. But if I'm not falling asleep, I move it to the top side of my pillow (still within the pillowcase.) That way a stronger aroma envelopes me and sends me off to sleep.
How do you handle your lack of sleep? 5/16/11
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