There is something about fresh, clean linens that helps me sleep. Not just a regular night’s sleep either – I have an incredible, deep and restful sleep and wake up feeling energized! I know I’m not alone here.
The National Sleep Foundation reported that 73% of people sleep better on fresh sheets. Further, their report also stated that 85% of people had better quality sleep, and 73% said they had better romantic lives when they had fresh, comfortable sheets.
It’s not just the crisp, cool feeling of fresh bedsheets that do it - it’s the smell. Think of every laundry detergent or fabric softener ad you have ever seen. There is always a person taking a deep inhale of their bed linens after taking them out of the dryer. Our sense of smell impacts our lives way more than we give it credit. A scent can trigger memories, make you salivate (or nauseous), make you feel alert, and even help you sleep.
Amazing, right? Well, no matter how desperate you are for a good night’s sleep, you probably don’t want to wash and change your bedding every single night. Changing a duvet cover is no easy feat, and no one has the time to do it daily.
Fortunately, there is a way you can receive all the sleep-inducing benefits of clean, fresh linens without daily washings. Linen and room sprays will provide the same olfactory effects with no more effort than a couple of pushes of a spray bottle. Through the science of aromatherapy, linen and room sprays can help with better sleep.
Smell and Sleep
Our sense of smell is powerful. The olfactory system, commonly known as your sense of smell, is quite complex. In your nose, you have tons of olfactory neurons, which are special cells that receive chemical signals from things in our environment. They are connected to your brain and allow you to identify and detect scents as well as triggering physiological and psychological responses.
One of these physiological and psychological responses is a feeling of calmness and sleepiness. There are specific scents that create a more sleep-inducing environment and can improve the quality of your sleep. Clean sheets, lavender, and rain are a few of these scents. The use of smells to elicit specific physiological and psychological responses is known as aromatherapy. There is scientific evidence that proves that aromatherapy is much more than an ancient practice – it works, and research has shown that specific smells have therapeutic benefits and can improve sleep quality.
In 2019, a study examined the effects of pleasant odors on sleep in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who were experiencing sleep troubles and nightmares. The study found that when these individuals were exposed to certain smells, they had a better quality of sleep.
At the Sleep Disorders Centre at the University of Heidelberg, individuals were exposed to either a pleasant small (flowers) and unpleasant smell (hydrogen sulfide) or no smell at all. Can you guess how these impacted their sleep? As you may have guessed, there was a link between sleep and smell, but the researchers also found a relationship between smell and dreams. The people who were exposed to a pleasant floral smell had positive dreams, and those who smelt sulfur had bad dreams or nightmares.
There are specific scents that are better able to ease you into a sleepy state. Lavender is the more popular scent for sleep. There have been several studies that have shown the significant benefits lavender aromatherapy can have on rest. Lavender has a calming effect and helps you sleep better.
One study examined the impact of aromatherapy on young men and women and their sleep. The researchers had 31 young, healthy adults with no prior sleep troubles sleep in a lab for three consecutive nights. Half of the subjects were presented with lavender oil before bed, and researchers gave the other half (control) distilled water. Data was collected and then compared. The results found that exposure to the lavender scent increased the amount of deep or slow-wave sleep (SWS). The participants also reported feeling more refreshed and vigorous in the morning. The researchers concluded that lavender serves as a “mild sedative” and can be used to promote deep sleep.
Lavender is believed to have a number of benefits that can aid in sleep, such as reducing pain, easing headaches, improving mood, reducing stress, and alleviating anxiety and depression.
There are several other calming scents as well. Another sleep-inducing scent is rose. A few studies have found that rose improves mood and the quality of sleep. Additionally, the smell of chamomile can increase your total sleep time, and jasmine is believed to improve sleep efficiency.
Linen Spray for Sleep
Linen spray and room spray use aromatherapy to help you sleep or provide a delightful smell. Generally, these products contain deionized water with an added scent like an essential oil and is then put in a spray bottle to produce a fine mist you can spray around your room and on your linens.
You can spray linen spray on carpets and soft furnishings to provide a pleasant fragrance and freshen up those items you can’t quickly throw in the wash. Linen spray can also be used on clothing or as an air freshener but the most common use is on bedding. Using a linen spray on your sheets and pillow will give you the clean, fresh, sleep-inducing scent you are looking for. When you use a linen spray with one of the scents mentioned earlier, like lavender, you will receive the added benefits of aromatherapy.
As with all sleep products, not all linen sprays are created equal. Synthetic smells and linen sprays containing harsh chemicals can do more harm than good. In our linen spray, we only used the best ingredients to help you sleep and get that fresh-linen feel. We use three different premium lavenders, all organic, for the most calming effects. Organic Lavandin Grosso, Organic French Lavender, and Organic Distillate are combined, along with Organic Aloe, for calming and moisturizing freshness.
You will get night-long benefits as the scent soaks into the fabric. Spray it on your pillow, sheets, mattress, and duvet for deep relaxation. The coumarins found in lavender oil can also lower blood pressure, soothe muscle pain, and ease body tension. You won’t find any low-quality or synthetic aromas either! Our linen spray is vegan with no phthalates, parabens, or gluten. It is 89% organic and non-toxic.
In addition to using it on your bedding, you can also use it during your meditation or yoga practice. Spray it on your mat or in the air and feel your tension and stress melt away. You can use it to freshen up any room or even a gym bag if the smell isn’t as pleasant as it could be.
If you love the smell (and benefits) of lavender, you can boost its sleep effects by using an aromatherapy pillow in addition to your linen spray. Combining the comfort of a buckwheat pillow with aromatherapy, we have infused the buckwheat filling with 100% French Lavender. You can adjust the filling to your comfort, using as much or as little organic buckwheat hulls and soothing lavender buds as you like. With an aromatherapy pillow, you can have the delightful, sweet, delicate scent of lavender every time your head hits your pillow!
If you already have a buckwheat pillow, you can turn it into an aromatherapy pillow by adding French lavender buds. You can purchase one or two pounds bags of lavender buds to refill your aromatherapy pillow or add the therapeutic benefits of lavender to your buckwheat hulls pillow.
A linen spray is an effective natural remedy to getting a great night of rest. The heavenly scent of lavender has a number of therapeutic benefits that will help you sleep. Our senses impact our sleep. Just as light can disrupt sleep, so can smell. Certain smells can actually keep you up rather than drifting off to sleep.
Although there are lavender detergents and fabric softeners you can buy, the smell is often artificial, and even though it may be pleasing, it does not have the same effect as natural, organic lavender. Further, many of these detergents contain harsh chemicals you don’t want to be breathing in every night.
The relationship between smell and our brain is fascinating. Though some people believe aromatherapy to be a placebo effect, the power of our olfactory system is undeniable. How many times have you smelt something, and within milliseconds, a childhood memory was stirred up? Just as much as it can bring up memories and emotions, smell can affect your mood and energy levels.
Thankfully we don’t need to wash our sheets every night to get a good sleep. You can easily incorporate the benefits of aromatherapy into your bedtime routine. With an aromatherapy pillow and a few spritzes of lavender linen spray and you will be off to dreamland.
