What Are the Best Scents for Sleep?

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If switching off at night isn’t always easy, your bedtime scent can make a difference.

You might think lavender is your only choice for a pillow spray to help you sleep, but depending on what you actually enjoy smelling, you might prefer a soft floral, fresh bergamot or something warmer like sandalwood.

So, which sleep-inducing scents should you try at bedtime?

What Are the Best Scents for Sleep?

Lavender is one of the most studied scents for sleep, with research suggesting lavender aromatherapy may improve sleep quality. Other fragrances commonly used in a relaxing bedtime routine include chamomile, bergamot, musk, jasmine and vanilla. So, choose a scent you find pleasant and relaxing and don’t assume one particular sleep fragrance will work for everyone.

Lavender Is the Classic Bedtime Scent for a Reason

Lavender has been associated with relaxation and bedtime for years, and tonnes of research backs up its reputation!

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis looked at 11 randomised controlled trials involving 628 adults and found that lavender essential oil was associated with improved sleep quality.

In fragrance, lavender has a fresh, aromatic and distinctly herbal-floral smell. It also blends easily with other bedtime-friendly scents, so a pillow fragrance containing lavender doesn’t necessarily have to smell like straight lavender essential oil.

Pair it with chamomile and you create a softer and more herbal sleep spray.

Other Sleep Scents to Try at Bedtime

If you’ve never particularly liked the smell of lavender, there’s no point covering your pillow in it just because it’s synonymous with sleep.

Instead, try a fragrance profile you actually enjoy:

Chamomile: Soft, herbal and slightly sweet. It pairs particularly well with lavender if you enjoy gentle floral and herbal fragrances.
Bergamot: Fresh, citrusy and slightly floral. Bergamot is a good option if you prefer brighter fragrances and find heavier bedtime scents too much.
Sandalwood: Smooth, warm and woody. It works well in softer fragrances and pairs naturally with musk, vanilla and florals.
Jasmine: Richer and more floral than lavender or chamomile. It can give a bedtime fragrance more of a perfume-like quality.
Vanilla: Sweet and warm, it offers comforting creaminess without dominating the fragrance. Combined with woods, musk or florals, it can give a bedtime scent a softer finish.
Rose: Floral and slightly sweet. Rose in sleep sprays pairs well with vanilla and musk, which can take away some of the sharper, greener qualities you get from rose on its own.
Lemon: Fresh and sharp, lemon gives a pillow mist a lighter opening and can balance sweeter notes such as rose and vanilla.
Orange: Sweeter than lemon, with less sharpness. It works well alongside florals and vanilla if you want some citrus without a particularly zesty fragrance.
Cedar: Dry and woody with very little sweetness. It can balance vanilla and floral notes and gives the fragrance a woodier base.
White musk: Clean, soft and slightly powdery. White musk tends to sit in the base of a fragrance and works particularly well with vanilla and woods.

Using a Vegan Pillow Spray as Part of Your Bedtime Routine

One of the easiest ways to introduce fragrance at bedtime is with a pillow mist.

Rather than scenting your whole room, you can lightly fragrance your pillow or bedding shortly before bed.

Eden’s Relaxing Dreams Pillow Mists are formulated specifically for this purpose and come in different fragrance blends, so you can choose the scent you prefer rather than being stuck with one standard lavender fragrance.

Follow the directions on your pillow mist, spray it onto the recommended fabrics and give it time to settle before getting into bed. You don’t need to saturate your pillow. A light fragrance is enough.

Using it at roughly the same point in your evening can also make it part of a consistent wind-down routine. The NHS recommends setting aside time to relax before bed and keeping a regular sleep routine, so think of fragrance as one enjoyable part of that routine rather than a treatment for sleep problems.

Finding the Right Bedtime Fragrance

The wrong pillow mist fragrance can do the opposite of sending you to sleep. So choose your sleep spray wisely.

If you naturally gravitate towards fresh fragrances, bergamot may appeal more than sweet vanilla. Floral lovers might prefer lavender, chamomile or jasmine, while vanilla is worth trying if your perfume collection tends to be warmer and woodier.

A familiar scent, used alongside a regular bedtime routine, can make winding down feel much better, giving you confidence in having a good night’s sleep.