Holistic Approaches to Support Sleep in the Intensive Care Unit Patient.

Sleep disruption in intensive care unit patients has internal, interpersonal, behavioral, and environmental factors to consider when developing sleep promotion protocols. Holistic approaches are integrative practices that go beyond modifying environmental factors. This article presents 3 holistic approaches that are cost-effective, easy to use, and independent nursing actions that are integrative in nature. Aromatherapy, guided imagery, and mindfulness show promising effects in the literature to improve comfort, anxiety and stress, which are thought to improve sleep.