Saturday, August 2, 2014

Cedarwood and Sleep

Whether five hours or nine hours, we all need sleep. And unfortunately for some us, the quality or quantity of our sleep changes throughout life for many reasons.  Take for example, my grandmother.  She is eighty-seven years old, has raised five boys, has thirteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren.  And judging from the stories my father has told me about his childhood, I can guarantee that my grandmothers sleep was affected.  Although her boys have been long gone from her house, she has never adjusted back into healthy sleep habits.  Growing up we would drive to Chicago at least once a year to visit her and other family.  We knew not to worry if we heard footsteps at 3am.  It would be Grandma, having an ice cream cone.  Then she would go back to bed.  As she has gotten older, getting to sleep and having good sleep have become even more difficult.  So I started to look into a few things for her.

One thing I came across was Cedarwood essential oil.  I learned that when you inhale cedarwood, or apply it directly to your skin, the limbic region of our brain is stimulated, specifically the pineal gland.  Now I just finished taking a psychology course, so the many functions of the brain are fresh in mine!  The pineal gland produces hormones, one of which is melatonin. Melatonin is what influences our sleep and wake cycles.  Melatonin also helps regulate other hormones and keeps our body on "rhythm".  This rhythm is our internal clock that plays a critical role in when we fall asleep and when we wake up.  Because our body produces more melatonin when it's dark and less when it is light, being around bright lights close to bedtime, or dim lighting during the day,  can disrupt ones normal rhythm, or melatonin cycle. Melatonin plays an important role in reducing stress by thwarting excess cortisol production, so it's good for everybody.

Knowing this, I bought my Grandma two bottles of essential oil.  One is a blend from Young Living Essential Oils called Tranquil, and the other is the single oil Cedarwood.  Tranquil has cedarwood in it, but also has lavender, roman chamomile, and (for a carrier) coconut oil.  I gave her both in case she didn't care for the cedarwood scent alone.  I brought these to her at the end of June when I was driving through Chicago to pick up my boys at my parents. She came with me to Waukesha and I showed her how to easy the oils could be applied with the roller fitments I had attached. We applied them before she headed home that night.

My grandma called me the next day and told me how shocked she was that she actually slept through the whole night for the first time in over thirty-five years. She sounded well-rested and didn't complain once during the phone call, which is rare! I think that getting ones sleep/wake cycles straightened out is the first step in achieving overall health and I'm so glad that my grandma is experiencing just that. She says the Cedarwood and Trainquil help her calm down at night and sleep well.

I've also read a little about how cedarwood can stimulate hair follicles for hair growth. So I've been experimenting with that by putting a few drops on my fingertips and massaging my scalp at night. I've only been doing this for about a week, so I haven't noticed growth yet. However, my hair feels healthier and I have been sleeping GREAT.

...and sometimes I experiment with essential oils on my children... Silas is a great sleeper, logging at least twelve straight hours a night. Jacob, well he sleeps ok.  He sleeps through the night most nights out of the week, but on the others you can find him crawling into our bed at 2am.  I do not sleep well with an extra person in our bed.  More power to you if co-sleeping is your thing, but it is definitely not mine.  So on the nights he comes into our bed, I don't sleep from then on.  One would think I would put him back to bed, but for some reason, although I'm awake, I'm not awake enough to escort him to his room.  So after seeing the oils help my grandma and improve my sleep, I didn't hesitate to try it with Jacob.  Most of the time I apply essential oils on the boys, it is on the bottoms of their feet or directly where needed.  I know this oil is safe for children over two years of age, so I put two drops on the top of his head and rubbed it in.  He calls it "the oil that helps me stay in my bed all night."  Jacob is still his normal self in the mornings so I'm unable to tell if the quality of his sleep has changed, but he does stay in his bed, so the quality of my sleep is definitely better :)

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