Bedroom Plants that Help Induce Sleep

 Discover the house plants that will knock you out and aid better sleep

It’s 3:31 AM.  You have been tossing and turning for approximately five days, by your estimation.  Sleep has always managed to elude you.  You’ve tried white noise.  If another person asks if you’ve tried melatonin, you’ll scream.  You’ve tried it all.  Or so you think.

Plants could be the answer to your prayers. The solution to snatching that sought-after sleep could be that simple. Different plant species have been used in multiple ways as sleep aids for centuries.  By digging up dirt on this dilemma, you can decide which one works for you.

How Can a Plant Possibly Help Me Sleep?

While it may seem like junk science to think that plants might directly correlate with better sleep, if that’s the case, then NASA is a subscriber to that junk science.  If you believe people actually DID land on the moon, read on.

Plants Purge the Air of Pollutants

NASA’s B. C. Wolverton, in his study called Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Pollution Abatement, calls house plants “nature’s life support system” He suggests plants can help us catch some sleep because they filter the air and make it more “breathable,” thus aiding with sleep.

What Plants are Perfect for This Position?

If you are on the hunt for the right house plant to help you sleep and believe that cleaner air (oxygen) is the answer, there are several to choose from.

• Spider Plants work wonders in the area of clearing the air and helping you rest easier.  They are a lovely green, and on occasion, they bloom. This species is excellent if making sure your plants are watered regularly isn’t really “your thing,” as they only need water a couple of times a week.
• Peace Lillies are beautiful to behold and are still great for the air purification that promotes sleep. But these lovelies come with a warning. Dr. Deborah Rose Wilson tells us, “this beautiful plant is toxic to cats, dogs, and children. It’s best to keep this as an ornamental plant” because it can cause irritation on the skin and in the eyes. 
• English Ivy can start climbing the walls in your bedroom so you can get to sleep tonight.  Also a lovely plant that is hazardous in the wrong hands this another one that should stay out of reach of children, pets, and anyone with severe skin allergies.

If only every medical issue came with a solution as easy as putting a pretty plant in your room to clean the air and end your insomnia, our lives would be much simpler. 

Plant Scents that Help Induce Sleep

House plants can be great nightstand companions because of their smell.  Several different kinds of plants help promote healthy sleep because “a pleasant smell makes you feel relaxed,” according to HowStuffWorks.

Once again, there are multiple options for getting your olfactory sense to kick in so you can rest easy.

• Lavender is one of the most common plants whose smell is known to promote sleep.  According to Dr. Michael Breus, “lavender works as an anxiolytic (an anxiety reliever) and as a sedative, to increase relaxation and calm, and help bring about sleep.” If you can’t find any live lavender to bring into your boudoir, then you can always opt for essential oils.  They are made directly from the plant and offer the same results.
• Gardenias are another option that are both fragrant and appealing to the eyes.  But this plant is only recommended as a sleep partner for someone who has a green thumb. Thriving gardenias will spend a minimum of ¼ of the day soaking up the sunshine, and if your room can’t offer the correct amount of humidity, investing in a spray bottle to keep it appropriately hydrated is a requirement.
• Jasmine is another sweet smelling looker that is proven to help with sleep.  TheSleepJudge.com tells us that with jasmine in the room, people exhibited “a better quality of sleep, woke up feeling more refreshed, and had more energy the next day.” These plants offer a monumental amount of relief for sleep sufferers worldwide as an alternative to modern medicine and its side effects.
  
  

Plants You Can Eat for Sleeping at Night

Another way plants can promote a healthy night’s sleep is through ingestion.  You all knew we were going to get to this place, right?  So, let’s find out what plants go in your body and results in a sleepy you.

• Chamomile is commonly ingested for sleep induction. Leading herbal creation site PukaHerbs.com tells us that chamomile’s  “oils help calm our ‘fight or flight’, sympathetic nervous system, improving sleep quality.”
  Also known to release brain chemicals that cause your body to become calm, it is no wonder that chamomile remains a plant that many people find to have a positive impact on their need for sleep.
• Apothecaries have used valerian for centuries as an ingestible plant used to put patients to sleep.  HealthLine.com even makes the bold claim that the root of the plant is often referred to as “‘nature’s Valium.’”  That speaks volumes for the plant’s power to calm and relax.
• Marijuana is a plant that is sparking up quite the controversy in today’s society.  But one thing that cannot be questioned is that marijuana will put you right to sleep when ingested in a moderate amount.  Marijuana physician Dr. Matt Roman says, “marijuana is an effective sleep aid because it restores a person’s natural sleep cycle, which so often falls out of sync with our schedules in today’s modern lifestyle.”  With so many grappling with the goings-on in the world, comfort can be found in ending your day with a puff of pot.

Once again, we see that putting plants into our lives in various ways promotes healthy sleep, and ingesting them might be the way to go.

Plants Perfectly Pack a Punch for Those Who Fight Sleep

While it may not seem conventional, plants can be used in various ways as an assistant for ending your sleepless nights.  Whether used to filter the air so you can breathe a deep sigh of relief for slumber, send some sweet relaxing smells to your soon-to-be sleepy brain, or ingesting them to bring an end to insomnia, plants are potent weapons to weald against the war on sleeplessness.