Do you remember skipping in the yard on hot summer days and smelling a freshly cut lawn? Do you recall walking into your mother's kitchen as a child to the fresh and welcoming aroma of cookies baking in the oven? We might not always realize it, but our noses help us connect to a particular place, time or feeling. For this reason, aromatherapy has grown quite popular over the years.

But back to your reality -

You've worked hard at your job from nine to five. You come home to a family of hungry people, things are a complete mess, and lastly, dishes are in the sink. You feel exhausted, but you know you will have a hard time trying to fall asleep as you always do. Stress rears its ugly head, and all you can think about is getting cozy in your pajamas, and lying on that comfortable bed.

Once you get under the covers, you stare at the ceiling, waiting for all of the smoke to clear from your chaotic life. You breathe in the air in room, and feel absolutely nothing. But, that is the problem. There is nothing to help your body relax enough to allow you to doze off into a deep slumber.

You remember something about aromatherapy. What the heck is that exactly?
Aromatherapy means "treatment uses scents", such as rose, lemon, lavender and peppermint. The essential oils are added to the bath or massaged into the skin, inhaled directly or diffused to scent an entire room. Aromatherapy is used for the relief of pain, care for the skin, alleviate tension and fatigue and to encourage sleep. Essential oils can affect the mood, alleviate fatigue, reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. When inhaled, they work on the brain and nervous system through stimulation of the olfactory nerves.

In a study reported in the British Medical Journal Lancet, elderly patients slept "like babies" when a lavender aroma was wafted into their bedrooms at night. These patients had complained of difficulty falling asleep and had to take sleeping pills to get sleep prior to the aromatherapy

Back to your problems -

Then you remember that bottle of lavender sleeping mist in the nightstand; the one your husband bought you for Christmas. You gently spritz this pleasantly soft aroma around the room, and let it hit the pillow and bed linens. As you lie back down, you roll over on your side, and inhale a whole world of goodness that soothes every part of your body. This scent is so familiar to you, reminding you of memories of your youth. Lavender comforts you, and before you know it, the journey toward a restful night is on its way.

The reason that a sleeping mist is so powerful, and works every time, is because the smells are comforting, putting your body in an immediate state of rest. I bet you never imagined that the science of sleep and the key to ending insomnia rested upon such gentle aromas.