The Effect of Lavender Oil on Sleep Quality and Vital Signs in Palliative Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial

"This study was conducted to determine the effect of lavender oil on sleep quality and vital signs in palliative care patients. We examined 68 patients in a palliative care unit. Vital signs of all the patients were assessed, and also their sleep quality was evaluated using the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire. Lavender was applied to patients in the experimental group. During the intervention, vital signs of the patients were monitored at 4-h intervals throughout the night, and sleep quality was evaluated during the morning. The same evaluation processes were performed for the control group. It was observed in the evaluation that lavender application did not affect the vital signs of the patients but it ensured a deeper sleep on the 2nd day after the intervention, facilitated their falling asleep and sleeping again when they were awakened and enhanced sleep quality (p < 0.05). Also, this application decreased the awakening frequency on the 1st and 2nd days and enhanced overall sleep quality (p < 0.05) after the intervention. Lavender has no effect on the vital signs of palliative care patients but is an effective and reliable approach to enhance their sleep quality."

Full Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32396914/