Effects of aromatherapy using lavender on the quality of sleep of hospitalized elderly

Introduction: Elderly people often have problems with a comfortable sleep. In this account, we aimed to evaluate the effect of lavender on the quality of sleep in elderly patients hospitalized in internal wards of selected hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 64 elderly patients admitted to internal hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran) who had sleep disorders were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received 3 drops of lavender essential oil and the control group inhaled 3 drops of normal saline for one week from two hours before bedtime until awakening. Sleep quality of both groups was determined before and after the end of the intervention using Pittsburgh standard sleep quality questionnaire and descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The mean (SD) of the sleep quality score of the control group before intervention was 12.25 (2.28) and after the intervention 12 (2.46) and in the intervention group before intervention was equal 13.18 (2.87) and later. T0he intervention 8.96 (3.71) was. The mean of total sleep quality score in the intervention group at the end of the study was lower than the control group using the Mann-Whitney test (P = 0.001), which indicates a significant Being an intervention. Conclusion: Given that complementary medicine is increasingly part of nursing care, the lavender-based herbal remedy with a positive effect on the quality of sleep in the elderly can be used as a complementary measure