Lavender Essential Oil Helps People with Dementia

Most people who suffer from dementia also experience feeling of agitation that interfere with daily activities and social interactions.

But when seventy people with dementia–forty-four of them with Alzheimer’s–and significant agitation were given either lavender essential oil or a placebo oil . . . 

in diffusers on either side of their pillow while they were sleeping, the agitation decreased significantly in the lavender group, but not at all in the placebo group.

• Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2007;22:405-10