Abstract
Objective: To evaluate whether fabrics with attached lavender oil microcapsules effectively increase the sleep quality. Methods: A before-after comparative study was conducted at the participants, homes to monitor their sleep patterns. Five consecutive weekdays were followed as the control, and the following five consecutive weekdays were followed as the aromatherapy intervention using fabrics attached with lavender oil microcapsules. Primary outcomes were objective measures of sleep qualities, such as sleep latency, waking time after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, and light sleep. Secondary outcomes were subjective measures of sleep qualities, such as “ ease in falling asleep ” and “ feeling of deep sleep ” scored from 10(“ very bad ”) to 50(“ very good”). Results: A total of 15 participants were analyzed. The difference in objective parameters was not statistically significant, whereas “ ease in falling asleep ” and “ feeling of deep sleep ” as subjective parameters were statistically significant. Effect sizes showed in this study were found from d=0.20 to 0.39, and the required total sample sizes were found from 54 to 207 in objective parameters. Conclusions: Since this sheet may be effective in improving sleep quality, verification with expanded sample size is required in the future.
