I am a big fan of essential oils and using a diffuser, but in the past my love for them was pretty much because they make such nice, natural room scents. It’s a wonderful thing to have a great smelling house just using essential oils, without that horrible artificial air freshener scent.
In my research however, I’ve found a large body of clinical research on the scientifically verified benefits of essential oils.
I’ll copy a few of the studies from Pub Med below:
Lavender oil improves sleep quality
Bergamot reduces anxiety
Orange oil reduces anxiety in children
Lavender, chamomile, and neroli essential oil reduces anxiety and improves sleep quality
Alzheimer’s patients were found to have improved cognitive function using aromatherapy: lemon and rosemary oils in the morning and lavender and orange oils in the evening.
Rose oil causes significant decreases in systolic blood pressure and made subjects more calm and relaxed when compared with the placebo group.
Peppermint, basil, and helichrysum essential oils reduce mental fatigue and burnout
Lavender oil reduces anxiety in patients before surgery
Bergamot oil reduces stress, heart rate, and lowers blood pressure
Lavender and rosemary essential oils reduce test taking stress
Many essential oils can kill airborne bacteria when diffused into the air, particularly cinnamon bark, cinnamon cassia, thyme, clove, peru balsam, and tea tree oil.
Eucalyptus oil inhalation reduces tuberculosis
Eucalyptus oil has antibacterial effects against many bacteria including tuberculosis and MRSA
All of the studies referenced above use aromatherapy with essential oils by breathing them in- diffusers are great for that. We sell two different great ones at the store by NOW Foods.
All the oils we sell state that they are for external use only on the bottles. The essential oils we have are 100% pure, with no additives, but are sold for external use only as a precautionary measure since there are a number of oils which are toxic, some extremely so. Wintergreen oil, for example, is extremely poisonous and one teaspoon of such oil could kill a child.
I don’t mean to sound alarmist or be an essential oil fear monger, but it is vitally important to treat essential oils with care. Many people equate them as the same thing when used for internal use as drinking a cup of herbal tea, when they are emphatically not the same thing. For example, one drop of peppermint oil in water would be the equivalent of 28 cups of peppermint tea, and one drop of lemon oil is equal to an entire pound of lemons. They are very potent plant compounds. That being said, they can be very effective.
Aromatherapy is particularly wonderful since diffused essential oils impart benefits without interacting with medications.
Oils for winter health:
There are also a number of essential oils which can be helpful during the winter for illness. Most of the information below is from the book The A to Z of Essential Oils by E. Jay Bowles. All of the uses below are for inhalation through a diffuser.
- Anise can help with reducing bronchial constriction.
- Cedarwood can help with reducing coughing.
- Eucalyptus can help to aid in breathing and reducing lung congestion by working to expel excess mucus. It also has antibacterial properties.
- Frankincense can help to break down mucus and is beneficial for a congested respiratory system.
- Lemon has energizing properties and is also an antibacterial and antifungal properties.
- Tea tree oil has potent antibacterial properties and can help with respiratory infections.
Oils beneficial for skin (when mixed with a carrier oil- jojoba is the one we’d recommend):
- Frankincense for dry skin and wrinkles
- Grapefruit oil for reducing the appearance of cellulite.
- Juniper for oily skin
- Lime for shaving rashes and acne
- Sweet orange for reducing the appearance of cellulite- massage from ankle to thigh which will help the lymphatic system
- Tea tree oil for acne
We are continuing our december essential oil sale, so During the month of January all our essential oil diffusers and NOW Foods essential oils will be on sale for 20% off.