Lavender: Sleeping Sweetly After Hysterectomy
Imagine you’re walking through a field of fragrant purple flowers. There’s a breeze blowing through your hair, the aroma is heavenly, and you can feel a sense of calm settling over you. Now imagine you can bring that experience home with you.
Lavender is an age old flower that’s know for it’s calming properties. And it just might be the solution for at least some of the sleeping issues you’ve been experiencing since your hysterectomy and with the onset of menopause. It comes in several forms so you have several options that can help you relax and get a good night’s sleep.
Why lavender can help.
- Decreases your heart rate.
- Lowers your blood pressure.
- It can help with deep sleep.
- It can act as a sedative.
- Reduces anxiety.
- May relieve pain.
How to use it.
- Add it to your bath water: Soaking in a warm bath can be relaxing, more so if you add some drops of lavender oil, dried lavender, or lavender salt.
- Use lavender on your pillow: Try pillow spray or lavender oil on your pillowcase or dabbed on a cloth you put inside your pillowcase.
- Try an eye pillow: Buy or make a small pillow that’s filled with lavender and something like flaxseed that you can cover your eyes with when you sleep.
- Use it topically: Before bed, apply a drop of lavender oil to your wrists, neck, temples, back of knees, or bottom of your feet – but check with your doctor first about the amount, location, and safety of applying it to your skin.
- Use a diffuser: A diffuser beside your bed can put lavender in the air for you to breath all night long.
- Get some potpourri: Place lavender potpourri around your bedroom and by your bedside in a satchel or decorative bowl – be sure to keep it fresh.
- Apply lavender lotion: Buy or make a body lotion with lavender and apply it to your skin before bedtime.
- Drink lavender tea: A bonus with lavender tea is that the warmth can also help you relax, but it can interact with some medications so talk to your doctor before drinking it.
- Ask about lavender oil capsules: Lavender oil capsules may not be sedative, but they can help ease anxiety which then may help you sleep better.
Because lavender is a supplement, it is not regulated by the FDA. Talk to your health care professionals about the best brands, where to purchase, and how to use it safely whether it will be used externally, on the skin, or ingested.
This content was written by staff of HysterSisters.com by non-medical professionals based on discussions, resources and input from other patients for the purpose of patient-to-patient support. Reprinted with permission: Lavender: Sleeping Sweetly After Hysterectomy
