Due to the aging of the world population, the elderly population is increasing and
age-related physiological changes and a number of health problems arise. Aging brings
challenges such as chronic diseases, balance disorders, osteoporosis, disorientation, sleep
disorders, neurological and psychiatric disorders. Changes during the aging process affect
individuals' sleep duration, quality and cognitive level. Insufficient and poor quality sleep
can lead to depression, anxiety, pain sensitivity, irritability, suppression of the immune
system, decreased mental activity, in short, deterioration of general health and functioning.
Sleep problems and some cognitive functions can be treated with pharmacological and
non-pharmacological methods, but pharmacological methods can cause serious side effects and
complications. Aromatherapy is a complementary alternative treatment method used for the
physical, mental and spiritual positive effects of plant-derived essential oils. In our
literature review, it was observed that some non-pharmacological approaches (such as massage,
listening to music, phototherapy, relaxation exercises and aromatherapy) applied to different
populations improved sleep problems and cognitive levels. There are studies in the literature
evaluating the effect of aromatherapy, especially aromatherapy applied through massage, on
sleep in the elderly, but there is no study examining the effect of inhaled mixture
aromatherapy on insomnia, sleep duration, sleep quality, and time to fall asleep. and the
interoperation of cognitive functions. However, as mentioned above, sleep problems and
daytime sleepiness affect cognitive functions. This research, which was planned to fill this
gap in the literature, has a unique value that distinguishes it from other studies on the
subject.
The main purpose of the research is to examine the effect of blended aromatherapy applied via
inhalation to elderly individuals on sleep duration, sleep quality, time to fall asleep and
cognitive functions. For this purpose, an application was made to the elderly care center
affiliated with the Ministry of Family and Social Services for research permission.
Permission was obtained from the institution to conduct the research. In order to conduct the
research, informed consent forms will be obtained from elderly individuals living in the
elderly care center who have the ability to understand and answer the questions and those who
do not have any knowledge. Those who have a disability to participate in the applications and
those who meet the inclusion criteria will be identified and their participation in the
research will be ensured. The minimum number of participants planned to be reached in the
research was determined as 60. First of all, the elderly individuals will be equally
distributed as experimental and control groups by simple randomization method. Then, after
the elderly individuals in both groups are informed about the study, the survey and forms
will be applied and they will be given a wearable smart watch and an Android mobile phone
compatible with this watch to wear on their wrists for 4 days. The researcher will make the
elderly in the intervention group smell peppermint and palmarosa oils for 10 minutes at 11:00
during the day for 4 weeks. In addition, the researcher will make the elderly in the
experimental group smell the essential oil mixture of vetiver, cedar, clary sage, grapefruit
and petitgrain for 10 minutes at 21:30 in the evening before going to bed on the same day.
Essential oil mixture inhalation will not be applied to the control group. The researcher
planned to re-administer the questionnaires and forms to the experimental and control groups
at the beginning of the application and at the end of the 4th week. It is planned to give
individuals in both the experimental group and the control group a wearable smart watch worn
on the wrist and an Android mobile phone compatible with the smart watch until the end of the
4th week. Thanks to the application on the Android mobile phone, the data from the smart
watch will be transferred to the computer. The obtained values will be transferred to the
Social Sciences Statistical Package (SPSS) 22.0 statistical analysis program and the
necessary analyzes will be performed.
It is planned to provide materials and consumables in the first three months of the research,
to obtain data in seven months, and to interpret the results with statistical analysis in the
last two months. The data obtained as a result of the research will pave the way for the
development of new strategies to improve the sleep quality and cognitive levels of elderly
individuals. The research aims to investigate the effects of aromatherapy on the sleep
duration, sleep quality, time to fall asleep and cognitive functions of elderly individuals
in the short term. In the long term, it will contribute to improving the general health
status of elderly individuals, increasing their quality of life and improving their general
health status. This research, which is one of the rare studies in the literature, will shed
light on future research in this field and has the power to appear as articles in important
international journals and to be presented as papers at scientific meetings.
