News Archive

By Caitlin Dunlap

Science Communication student

For years, insomniacs have sworn by lavender oil as the secret ingredient to a good night's sleep while others believe that counting sheep helps those who struggle to drift off.

Now scientists at UWA have put them together and, by using sheep of varying demeanours, they have discovered another side to lavender oil that is more than sweet dreams and a peaceful night's sleep.

Lavender oil has displayed calmative effects in animals. These effects haven't yet been thoroughly examined in humans but potentially hold the key to an alternative treatment for people with disorders such as depression, insomnia and anxiety, who are currently taking highly addictive drugs.

Dr Penny Hawken and Associate Professor Dominique Blache in the School of Animal Biology, along with Carolina Fiol at the Facultad de Veterinaria in Uruguay, have examined the effects of lavender oil on the anxious behaviour of sheep.

Sheep are seen as a useful model for humans, due to the fact that they are not clones of one another as many people would believe, but are all individuals with their own personalities and temperaments, which make them comparable to humans.

For 15 years, UWA has been selectively breeding sheep based on their demeanour. The study used both anxious and calm sheep, fitting them with a mask containing either lavender oil or peanut oil (the control group) for 30 minutes. Their behaviour was examined, including vocalisations (bleats) and the concentration of a stress hormone (plasma cortisol) in their system. Conclusions from the study found that when lavender oil was supplied to sheep which were genetically predisposed to being calm, they became even more relaxed.

The control sheep made six times as many vocalisations as the sheep treated with lavender oil, which was expected by the scientists. What wasn't predicted was that the sheep which were predisposed to being anxious became even more anxious when given lavender oil, recording twice as many bleats and a stress hormone concentration two-and-a- half times higher than the control group.

Genetic differences were concluded to be the key to whether lavender oil would lessen or intensify the anxiety of the sheep. Professor Blache explained that rather than just having the expected calmative effect, the lavender oil "accentuated the current state."

With the help of the sheep, we now have an insight into the way in which lavender oil might work on the human brain. It is hoped that it can be used as a natural and effective alternative to some potentially addictive prescription drugs.

Published in UWA News , 23 July 2012