Effects of Aromatherapy and Music on Napping-Time Quality in Young Adults: EEG Sleep Study

Good sleep is crucial for an individual to maintain her or his general well-being and quality of life. The goal of this study is to investigate the extent to which aromatherapy and music stimuli affect sleep quality parameters, measured by electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Nine young healthy male subjects were recruited and exposed to music (classic or natural) and essential oil release (lavender or sandalwood) in counterbalanced ways (different days) before 90-minute napping. Using a within-subjects design, we measured sleep quality parameters, consisting of total sleep time (TST), time in bed (TiB), wake after sleep onset (WASO), sleep efficiency (SE), and three stages of nonrapid eye movement (NREM). We found that sandalwood significantly reduced the percentage of WASO to total time in bed while natural music increased sleep efficiency. However, neither aromatherapy nor music significantly improved NREM stage 1, 2, and 3 qualities. These findings indicate the positive effects of these stimuli on some objective sleep parameters among young healthy male subjects.