3 Essential Oils for Sleep (Do you have these?)

3 min to read
Andrea Butje
06/03/2023

An effective, sweet-smelling way to use 3 essential oils for sleep!

Getting enough sleep is a popular reason that people turn to essential oils. Fortunately, there are a lot of essential oils for sleep that can help calm overthinking and soothe the nervous system.

This blend includes three of them: Lavender, Green Mandarin, and Bergamot.

This is actually a stock blend recipe, which means we're making more than we need for a single session of diffusing. We're going to use a 5 ml bottle with an orifice reducer. Since you only need to diffuse about 5"-6 drops of essential oils for sleep, you'll have plenty "in stock"if you want to use it again! This blend can last several weeks or months, depending on how often you use it.

The recipe is . . .

Purple, Green & Orange Sleep Blend

Essential Oils

  • 1 ml Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia)

  • 1 ml Green Mandarin Oil (Citrus reticulata)

  • 2 ml Bergamot Oil (Citrus bergamia)

Are you thinking, "Andrea, this blend sounds beautiful . . . but how many drops are in a ml?" I'll explain!

When I make stock blends, I sometimes use a graduated cylinder and measure my essential oils by the ml, so I don't have to count out every drop individually. If you don't have a graduated cylinder, that's okay. You can do this!

1 ml = approximately 25 drops of essential oil.

This is a good guideline to go by, although it's not a precise measurement every time. So if you're counting out the drops for this recipe, it would look like this:

  • 25 drops Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

  • 25 drops Green Mandarin (Citrus reticulata)

  • 50 drops Bergamot (Citrus bergamia)

Blog-Sept 10-3 Purple Green and Orange Sleep Blend - Recipe- 600 x 600

An empty 5 ml bottle like the one we're using has the orifice reducer in the cap of the bottle. When you tighten the cap, the orifice reducer pops right into place. You can watch me make this blend in a YouTube video and see the process there. (You can also see me pour the oils into a graduated cylinder. It's fun to see the rich colors of the essential oils . . . we don't usually get to see them inside those amber and cobalt blue bottles!)

So how do these essential oils for sleep help?

Lavender offers overall relaxation and is so soothing to the nervous system. Lavender is a great ally for offering emotional balance, helping you take a deep breath and feel settled in your heart.

Green Mandarin is a citrus, very like Orange, but it has a slightly warmer, deeper note to it. Very calming! Green Mandarin is known to soothe overthinking and ease the mind into a more peaceful state.

Then we have Bergamot. I love using Bergamot in diffuser blends! It's a phototoxic oil, meaning it can cause reactions if you apply it to your skin and then spend time in the sun. We can side-step its phototoxic concerns and still get all of Bergamot's calming effects if we just use it for inhalation. (Phototoxicity only becomes an issue if the oil is applied topically.)

Happy sleeping!

Aromatherapy In Your Inbox

Our weekly newsletter in is known for being the best in industry. Sign up today for weekly aromatherapy news, content, recipes & more! Your data will always remain private.