Using essential oils to achieve an aromatic sleep
When asked to pick their top two oils for helping people get to sleep, most of the aromatherapists in the world would probably say chamomile-and sweet marjoram, with split votes for lavender, sandalwood or ylang ylang as a best third.
If you find that these oils on their own are not doing a satisfactory job, try blending small and equal amounts say two or three drops of chamomile, lavender and ylang ylang, or mix lavender with vetivert, which has special qualities in this department. Other oils which may help are benzoin, clary sage and petitgrain.
We have not yet mentioned the essential oils available to those of us who worry about having too much money, rather than too little. If your lack of sleep is caused by the bumps made in the mattress by multiple wads of bank notes, buy yourself some oil of rose, or go completely mad, hang the expense, and buy true neroli as well.
To go outside our range of recommended oils for once, there is an oil made from the root of a common herb called valerian which is a specific for insomnia. Valerian has a very long tradition in herbal medicine and was a popular remedy for what was once called the vapors, a term covering a range of conditions from depression to hysteria.
Valerian root was also used around Tudor times to perfume clothes, although few people would thank you for that now. Cats like the smell, however, and will roll on valerian plants in the garden. The essential oil is more pleasant than the plant but it is less widely available than some, its only real use being in insomnia and nerve-calming.