The effects of aromatherapy on the sleep quality of adults with insomnia: A systematic review
List of Authors
  • Noorazan Shazmeera Suhymee , Tengku Elmi Azlina Tengku Muda

Keyword
  • aromatherapy; essential oil; insomnia; randomised control trial; experimental

Abstract
  • In recent years, aromatherapy was welcomed and practiced by nursing professionals in healthcare centers. This systematic review summarises the intervention studies that are already proven on whether essential oils in aromatherapy help in improving the sleep quality of adults with insomnia and the interventions on the types of oils. The literature search was conducted using trusted search engines with specific terms and keywords included. Jadad scoring was used to assess randomisation, double blinding, dropouts, and withdrawal of participants to evaluate their quality. Each paper was read by two researchers who were randomly assigned, and the findings were summarised in a table for analysis. Our analysis of ten studies consisting of nine randomised control trials (RCT) and one non-RCT (quasi-experimental) which are placebo-controlled trials indicate that aromatherapy is better than control conditions in improving sleep quality, with a moderate effect size. Various instruments were used to measure sleep quality, and the analysis revealed positive changes in the experimental groups. The findings suggest that aromatherapy may be a potential complementary therapy for adults with insomnia. However, due to limitations such as small sample sizes and potential biases in the included studies, more high-quality research is needed to confirm these results. Further studies should investigate the optimal types of oils, duration, and frequency of aromatherapy interventions to enhance sleep quality in adults with insomnia.

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