Over the last few decades, seeking treatment for many common conditions by using essential oils has become increasingly popular. One of these common ailments is snoring – whether it’s your own, your partner’s, or that of a friend. Helping your snoring habit with natural essential oils is probably one of the least intrusive ways that you can stop snoring.
Snoring is obviously a severe irritant to one of the partners when trying to go to sleep. It is possibly not the most sexy topic to think about, but it happens none the less. Luckily, there are several great essential oils to use to help stop snoring. Read on to learn how you can start treating snoring at home.
Can essential oils stop snoring?
Research suggests that yes, essential oils can help with people suffering from snoring. An interesting study¹ scientifically recorded and tested snoring and the relief thereof after using essential oils before bed time.
In this study, both the snoring patients and their partners were quizzed before and after the application of essential oils. An astonishing 82% of patients using the essential oils to help stop snoring had partners reporting a reduction in snoring. The partner is most suited to be interviewed for this study as they would be the ones that could reveal a possible change in snoring after treatment. The partners are also the ones most likely to be affected by insomnia while their significant other peacefully dozes away in dream land, snoring.
The Best Essential Oils To Help With Snoring
Essential oils that have a reputation for helping snoring are: thyme, mint, lemon, clove, pine, fennel, sage, citronella, eucalyptus, lavender, marjoram, valor and pine. Some of these we will look at in more depth in this article. Here is some insight on the best essential oils to use for snoring relief:
Thyme Essential Oil For Snoring
doTerra thyme essential oil helps with snoring
The best essential oil for snoring relief is believed to be thyme essential oil. Many studies have been done on thyme to show it may be used to support respiratory wellness, the immune system, muscular health and joint support. It can also be used in cleaning because of its purifying qualities.
To use thyme essential oil for snoring relief, mix it with a carrier oil (THIS IS IMPORTANT AS UNDILUTED THYME WILL IRRITATE THE SKIN), and apply it at the bottoms of your big toes each night. Traditional reflexology charts describe these spots at the bottom of your feet as the reflex for the neck area – so this is a great spot to get the best benefit from using thyme to help with snoring.
You can also diffuse thyme essential oil into the air using your essential oil diffuser unit. Start your diffuser about half an hour before planning to go to bed to ensure a bedroom filled with thyme aroma for easiest breathing as soon as you are ready to go to sleep. If the scent of pure thyme oil on its own is a bit too strong for you, you can also find thyme in some common essential oil blends that target the airways and breathing, such as Breathe Easier (Eden’s Garden) $4.95, Breathe (doTerra) $22.00, or R.C (Young Living) $18.00.
Please always remember to test your choice of essential oil brand carefully and make sure you can use it as it was intended.
Avoid thyme oil during pregnancy and keep out of your nose, ears or eyes. Talk to your doctor if you have high blood pressure.
Stop snoring with marjoram essential oil
Marjoram Essential Oil For Snoring
Another reportedly powerful essential oil to help with snoring is Marjoram essential oil. By smelling the Marjoram oil prior to and while sleeping, the airway passages are opened up and in effect, help you not to snore.
Once the effect of Marjoram essential oil kicks in and your body reacts to it – you don’t need it any more. This means, that if you’re running Marjoram in your diffuser, it’s totally ok to have your diffuser on the 2-hour shut-off setting, and not feel like you have to have the unit running all night for the snoring help from Marjoram essential oil to kick in.
The effectiveness of Marjoram as a snoring remedy depends from person to person as each body reacts differently to any particular oil. There have been quite a few cases where snoring sufferers have reported their snoring stopped on the first night of using Marjoram oil – other snorers have taken 6 weeks to stop snoring. These reports just show that each person is different – so just don’t give up too quickly!
Avoid marjoram oil during pregnancy.
Use essential oils to stop your snoring nightmares.
Eucalyptus Essential Oil For Snoring
This Eucalyptus Oil is Certified Organic and ca. $10.95 for the bottle.
Eucalyptus is a herbal decongestant that helps to open your air passages. Apart from help for snoring, eucalyptus is also commonly used as a home remedy treatment for the common cold for the same reasons – because it opens up your nose for better breathing. It can also help with clearing of mucus in your nose, further opening up your ability to breathe more freely.
Eucalyptus is best taken via steam inhalation. It really works wonders and smells amazing!
Prepare a medium-sized bowl of steaming hot water and add a 3-5 drops of eucalyptus oil into it. Place a clean, dry towel over your head, lean your head and nose closely over the bowl, and breathe deeply. Try to stay in this steam inhalation treatment for 4-6 minutes. This is best option to use eucalyptus essential oil to get rid of snoring and it is completely safe for both adults and children alike.
Find Eucalyptus Essential Oils
Valor Essential Oil For Snoring (Blend)
Valor essential oil blend by Young Living
The valor essential oil blend by Young Living is an empowering combination of oils that has been found to help the body self-correct its balance and alignment.
It is a blend of rosewood, blue tansy, frankincense, spruce and frankincense. Spruce has been identified in the scientific study discussed earlier¹ as one of the essential oils that significantly helped reduce snoring symptoms in patients. The study concludes that snoring and the relief thereof was not a mere placebo effect also. You can find a link to this study in full under “Further Resources” at the bottom of this page.
While the Valor blend will be a slightly pricier option for a snoring relief home remedy, it is a very balanced smell and comforting aroma that might be worth the investment if you or your partner are acute snoring sufferers.
You can use valor essential oil blended with a carrier oil and rub it onto the bottoms of your big toes before going to sleep. If you add valor to your oil diffuser at night, many people have had success with stopping the snoring with essential oils.
Less expensive alternatives for the Valor Blend
If you find the Young Living Valor blend too pricey, you can try the following alternatives. They are not EXACTLY the valor blend, but pretty close.
Plant Therapy “Self Esteem” Blend (~$12.95 for 10ml) – contains Spruce, Rosewood, Blue Tansy, and Frankincense
DoTerra “Serenity” Blend (~$33.00 for 15ml) – contains Lavender, Marjoram, Roman Chamomile, Ylang Ylang, Sandalwood, Vanilla Bean
Young Living Valor (~$35.00 for 5ml) – contains Spruce, Rosewood, Blue Tansy, Frankincense
The best essential oils for snoring include thyme, marjoram, and the valor blend.
In Summary
Essential oils are a great way to naturally treat snoring and help you stop snoring altogether. With any of the essential oils to stop snoring discussed here, you can either:
- Diffuse them into the air of your bedroom with your electronic diffuser or a simple spray mixture with purified water (if you like the smell – some of them are very strong), or
- Apply them to the base of your feet, especially at the bottom of the big toe, mixed with some carrier oil like sweet almond oil or jojoba oil. (Find out more about carrier oils here).
- Do a steam inhalation with a bowl of hot water, essential oil droplets in it, a towel over your head, and 4-6 minutes of deep breathing.
However, I do think some of the essential oils best for snoring smell quite strongly on their own, which is why many essential oil companies also have “breathe easy” types of blends that actually have many of the oils mentioned above in them, combined into a nice, well-rounded blend. Check out:
Breathe Easier (Eden’s Garden) – $4.95
Breathe (doTerra) – $22.00
R.C. (Young Living) – $18.00 (less pricey than the valor blend)
Respire (Living Pure Essential Oils) – $14.95 (current best seller in cough & cold chest rubs)
Further Reading
¹ The Use of Essential Oils to Treat Snoring
Here is a handy essential oil comparison guide between ingredients of Plant Therapy, doTerra, and Young Living blends: Plant Therapy Comparison Chart, Alternative to Young Living Valor
Images courtesy of marin and FrameAngel at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Terrence Hill says
I am going to try valor to see if it will stop my snoring. It says to apply it to the base of the feet. Where exactly do you consider the base of the feet?
Emma says
Hi Terrence, the base of your feet is simply all of the bottom area of your feet. Personally, when I put essential oils on my feet, I always make sure to focus a bit more on the arched area (not toes or heels, but in-between).
Lori says
Wow. Never heard of this before. I’m trying it tomorrow.
Emma says
Awesome, great to hear! 🙂
Tammy says
Hello..if you apply these oils to the feet, do you put socks on after (when using before bed so not to get the bed oily??)
Emma says
Hi Tammy. I don’t put socks on. I’ve found that the skin absorbs the oils quite quickly. Leave your feet uncovered for 2-5 minutes after you use the oils, and then I think it shouldn’t leave oily residue in your sheets any more.
Sandra Morneau says
I know that the DoTerra oils do not stain your sheets. I use my oils on my feet every night.
Pam says
What is the ratio for essential oil to carrier oil when diluting
Emma says
Hi Pam, I usually fill the palm of my hand with carrier oil and then add 3-5 drops of oil.
Mary says
What is recommended for arthritis?
sharon says
I noticed that the Valor was over $100, have you tried the Thyme and/or Marjoram with successful results?
Emma says
Hi Sharon, my family doesn’t have any snorers present so I can’t speak from personal experience. However, if the YL Valor blend is too pricey, you can try the following alternatives. They are not EXACTLY the valor blend, but pretty close.
Plant Therapy “Self Esteem” Blend ($12.95)
DoTerra “Serenity” Blend ($33.00)
Here is the comparison chart: Plant Therapy Comparison Chart, Alternative to Young Living Valor
Rachel Pringle says
Is there an essential oil to lower high blood pressure?
Kimberly Sooy says
Rachel, I have heard and read testimonies of people that regularly use Ylang Ylang, Lavender, Aroma Life all by Young Living Essential Oils. Plus seen these same ones mentioned on Pinterest. I love the YL Essential Oils–I wish I had discovered their benefits years ago–but glad that my sister introduced me to them 4 months ago. If you have any questions about purchasing YL oils, I’d be happy to help you.
Stephanie says
We are using Healing Solutions’ “Balance Blend”. It smells nice, works great and cost $17.99 for 30ml (one ounce)
Robin says
I was looking on the Healing Solutions website and noticed that they don’t list the ingredience in their blends. In the FAQ’s it says they are on the label on the bottle but they don’t show that side of the bottle. Then I went to see when the last couple of blog entries were posted but they don’t include the year. This makes me wonder how customer focused they are. I don’t think I’d buy anything from them.
Sandra says
Try DoTerra.com, great website! These oils are the purest you can get!
Carrie says
These tips are amazing, my husband snores all the time so I can’t wait to give this a shot! Well done, yet again great stuff!
Tammy says
Are these safe to use around pets? (I have a cat that sleeps with me each night, I do not want any harm on my kitty)
Emma says
Hi Tammy, great question! I’ve found really great information about essential oil use around pets, here: https://organicaromas.com/blogs/ if you want to give that a read! It specifies which oils exactly to look out for. Hope this helps!
Lynn Salvadia says
I would like to make a rollerball with Marjoram, how many drops would you suggest?
Emma says
Hello Lynn. Thanks for your question! Most roller bottles are a 10mL size. The first thing I’d say to you is, check the size of your roller bottle. Then, basically fill it almost to the top, and add your essential oils. For a 10mL roller, add 2-4 drops, which makes a 1%-2% dilution rate. This rate of dilution is considered safe for adults, and a great place to start. 2% is appropriate for daily use for most adults. 1% is recommended for children 6+, or the elderly. If you’re an average, strong, healthy, adult, you can also up your dilution rate to 3-10% (which, in a 10mL bottle, would be up to 20 drops of the essential oil), but that is best only used short term or for a temporary issue. Hope this helps!
kaise kare says
Fantastic article..Opening nasal passage did wonders for my husband, who has been suffering from snoring for years..We have also tried Neti pot for the same..Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge..It was very helpful to me..
Cristal says
I’m a 9 month pregnant mother with a very light sleepe partner and it worked for us. Expect I didn’t know using a diffuser with oils would help with the snoring. In fact I was just trying to induce labor with oils. And it just so happens that he didn’t complain once about my snoring and he said he didn’t hear me once last night. So I googled it and sure enough it was the diffuser. It was some kind of Sage mixed with olive oil and water in a diffuser. It worked.
Teresa says
What about rubbing valor on the temples or forehead for snoring? Would that be OK to do?….
Lynette Terese Martinez says
I recently took a class from a medical doctor who has turned holistic and uses essential oils in his practice taught us that the bottoms of the feet are a popular place to apply essential oils but it is actually the least effective. He told us to think about skin thickness and sensitive areas of the body. Surprisingly, the absolute best place to apply oils is in the groin area. They absorb into the system very quickly. Other good places are the back of the neck, inside the wrists and under and behind the ears…the temples are effective as well, especially for things having to do with the head area. Just some thoughts I wanted to interject because there are a lot of popular myths about how to use essential oils which are bunk. This doctor really knows his stuff as he participates in a lot of studies and lab testing with essential oils. Have a great day!