Every living creature needs to sleep. It is the primary activity of the brain during early development. By the age of two, most children have spent more time asleep than awake and overall, a child will spend 40 percent of his or her childhood asleep. Sleep is especially important for children as it directly impacts mental and physical development. It keeps them healthy in both mind, spirit and body.
Sleep is just as important as nutrition and exercise. It’s when the body repackages neurotransmitters, chemicals that enable brain cells to communicate. And experts have recently been able to demonstrate that sleep allows brain cells to “take out the trash” each night, flushing out disease-causing toxins. How cool is that?!
In our home to help promote a good night’s sleep, we diffuse these 4 oils together regularly. My kids call it the “sleeping gas” and are not always happy when they see me filling the diffusers because they know they won’t be able to fight it for very long. LOL!
The 4 EO’s we use are: 4 drops each of Valor, Peace and Calming, Lavender and Cedarwood.
Valor’s smell is very soothing and calming and may be especially calming and comforting to young children after an overactive and stressful day.
Peace & Calming® is a gentle, fragrant blend. When diffused, it helps calm and uplift the spirit, promoting relaxation and a deep sense of peace. You will find that children are also very drawn to this oil. I believe it’s the orange and tangerine oils combined. Do you remember as a child loving anything with orange in it? I do – orange juice, soda, candy, sherbet!
The benefits of Lavender oil include relaxation, easing stress and more. It is a gentle oil so can be used on children and even animals (our dogs and cats sleep well when the sleeping gas comes on I might add).
Cedarwood Essential Oil has an earthy aroma that is soothing and grounding. It is a well documented oil, used by the Sumerians, Egyptians and Tibetans. And is mentioned over 40 times in the Bible. Cedarwood oil contains the highest amount of sesquiterpenes which are a hydrocarbon group that is found in essential oils. They stimulate the limbic system of the brain which helps to elevate our mood and helps us relax (overcome stress). This explains why Cedarwood is relaxing and may help with focus.
This is the sleeping gas mixture we discovered when our journey started with Young Living. It has continued to work so we continue to use it. We can tell a difference now when we forget to fill the diffusers at night or are out of one of the oils…yikes! Using this blend the kids sleep better and so do us grown ups!