The value of lavender for rest and activity in the elderly patient

Abstract: Symptoms of tiredness, lack of muscle co-ordination and dysarthria, and difficulty in maintaining attention in elderly people may be wrongly labelled as part of the ageing process and so ignored. If adequate sleep can reduce these symptoms and restore therapeutic activity, it is of enormous value to elderly people in retaining their independence and quality of life. Safe promotion of sleep without daytime lethargy is needed. In order to test the hypotheses that Essential Oil of Lavender has a sedative effect, and that the resultant sleep promotes therapeutic activity, a pilot study was arranged with acutely ill elderly people. This was followed by a more detailed trial with long-term patients. The results show a positive trend towards improvement with lavender.

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