Can complementary therapies help you sleep better?
- oonagh
- Feb 12, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 6
We need sleep. We need it to function well in our daily lives. It’s essential to maintain our physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing, and it helps restore our body and brain and has many benefits including reducing our risk of many diseases.
“Sleep and health are strongly related, poor sleep can increase the risk of having poor health, and poor health can make it harder to sleep” (Mental Health Foundation).
The Mental Health Foundation estimates that one third of the population suffer from lack of sleep or poor quality sleep. So if you’re affected by sleep problems you’re not alone, and to be honest, we could all probably do with better sleep.
Sleep problems can be different for each person, and can be different for you at different periods of your life. Some signs and symptoms of sleep problems include:
find it difficult to fall asleep
lie awake for long periods at night
wake up frequently during the night
wake up early and unable to get back to sleep
feel down or have a lower mood
difficulty concentrating
more irritable than usual
If you’re struggling with sleep issues, or sleep is starting to affect your daily life, then please speak to your GP.
Tips for Good Sleep
You may find some of these useful, but please remember different things work for different people. So it’s worth trying a few things, and seeing what works best for you.
Stick to a sleep schedule
Don’t exercise too late in the day
Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed
Try to avoid large meals before bed
Aim to get outside for 30 minutes every day
Leave time to relax before bed
Take a bath before bed
Make sure your room is dark, cool and gadget free
Walker (2017)
Reflexology and sleep
Reflexology is a complementary therapy and can be helpful to help reduce your stress levels and relax you, which in turn can aid an improvement in sleep.
Research in the Journal of Nursing from Huang et al (2020) showed that foot reflexology produced significant improvements in sleep disturbances, and that as a non-invasive complementary therapy, getting regular reflexology could be a beneficial and convenient way of helping to improve your sleep.
If you are experiencing sleep problems, reflexology may be worth considering.
Aromatherapy and sleep
Aromatherapy is a complementary therapy that uses essential oils extracted from plants and flowers. There is a natural component in some essential oils called Linalool which has been shown to produce a state of relaxation and calm, which can obviously be helpful before you go to sleep.
Research from Lillehei and Halcon (2014) has shown that essential oils can benefit and aid sleep including time to get to sleep, time spent asleep, and time spent in deep sleep, with no adverse effects.
By bringing specific essential oils into our nightly routine we start to associate these aromas with rest and sleep. The next time we then smell them, our body and mind know what to expect, and this can help us to fall asleep easier and promote better sleep.
If you are living with sleep disturbance or issues, then why not try reflexology or aromatherapy and see if they can help. Please be realistic with your expectations. If you have had sleep problems for a while, then one session of reflexology will be lovely and relaxing, but it will not solve all your problems immediately. Similarly the effects of aromatherapy in your nightly routine will be more effective over time.
Regular reflexology or aromatherapy, perhaps combined with some lifestyle changes, may be the key to helping you sleep and feel better. Why not give it a try and see if it helps!
Some helpful sites:
Sleep Foundation https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-disorders
Mental Health Foundation https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/how-sleep-better
References
Huang, H. et al. (2020) ‘Can foot reflexology be a complementary therapy for sleep disturbances? evidence appraisal through a meta‐analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(4), pp. 1683–1697. doi:10.1111/jan.14699.
Lillehei AS, Halcon LL. A systematic review of the effect of inhaled essential oils on sleep. J Altern Complement Med. 2014 Jun;20(6):441-51. doi: 10.1089/acm.2013.0311. Epub 2014 Apr 10. PMID: 24720812.
Sleep matters: The impact of sleep on Health and Wellbeing (no date) Mental Health Foundation. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/sleep-matters-impact-sleep-health-and-wellbeing#:~:text=Sleep%20is%20an%20essential%20and,brains%2C%20not%20just%20our%20bodies. (Accessed: 08 February 2024).
Walker, M. (2017) Why we sleep. Scribner.
