The Best Essential Oils To Calm Anxious Or Stressful Thoughts
One thing I will say about feelings of unrest, stress or anxiety. Giving the body what it needs is the best way to handle those feelings. Feedingit healthy, getting lots of sleep and avoiding alcohol as much as possible because it is a depressant. Also, dealing with the underlying emotional issues and taking care of our mental state. I have personally used all these oils when I feel an attack come on and find them to be extremely helpful.
Lavender Oil And Aromatherapy
Historically, EOs have been delivered as aromatherapy via inhalation or topical routes. Essential oils delivered via inhalation route may exert psychologic effects, because the olfactory bulb has limbic inputs in the amygdala and hippocampus that are associated with emotion and memory. It is hypothesized that smell-triggered emotional memory may be the etiologic root of situational anxiety in some circumstances. This form of emotional memory is exemplified by state anxiety associated with the characteristic smell of the dentist’s office, which has been reduced with LEO. Conversely, particular smells may be associated with positive emotions and mood, which is a core tenet of hypothesized benefits in aromatherapy.
When To See A Doctor
Some people may find that essential oils can help promote relaxation and relieve stress.
However, chronic anxiety can have a detrimental effect to both a persons mental and physical health. If anxiety is causing significant distress or disruption to a persons daily routine, they may wish to consider seeing a doctor.
Symptoms of anxiety can include:
- difficulty sleeping
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How To Choose The Right Essential Oil For You
With dozens of essential oils to choose from, where do you start?
To get the best out of aromatherapy, make yourself an expert on a few essential oils, include them in your everyday life, then build on that, says aromatherapist Glenda Taylor, creator of Angelico serums. Check out her recommendations below:
Warms muscles as it helps to stimulate circulation and eases aches, as well as boosting alertness and motivation.
Tolerable For External Use
Researchers have determined that lavender oil is tolerated well by users for aromatherapy. In these cases, toxicity is low, and poisoning by lavender oil is rare. Plus, it has the FDAs seal of approval, which, to us, has an anxiety-relieving name: Generally Recognized as Safe.
To use topically though, you must always make sure to dilute properly in a carrier oil and do a patch test first.
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Essential Oil Recipes For Anxiety Headaches Sleep And Energy
Help support body and mind with Glenda Taylors therapeutic blends
Ease anxiety15 drops frankincense essential oil5 drops lavender essential oil1 tbsp vodka90ml water100ml spray bottle
Pour the essential oils into the vodka, then add this to the water. Shake well and spray this grounding spritz around the room.
Relieve a tension headache2 drops eucalyptus essential oil3 drops peppermint essential oilSmall 10ml glass bottle
Pour all the ingredients into the glass bottle. Shake before use and massage into temples while slowly breathing in the aroma. Use a little at a time its strong stuff!
Soothe aching muscles5 drops black pepper essential oil5 drops tea tree essential oil5 drops peppermint essential oil30ml glass bottle
Blend all the ingredients into the bottle and shake before use. This warming muscle rub can be massaged into skin after exercise or added to the bath.
Calm a fretful mindWhen you feel super-tense and stressed, only a bath will do the trick.
Two large handfuls of unscented Epsom salts or flakes6 drops yarrow essential oil4 drops mandarin essential oil
Pour the salts into a bowl and add the essential oils, stirring it all together. Swirl into a warm bath, lie back and inhale the aroma to ease tension and stress.
Reboot your energy10 drops peppermint essential oil10 drops grapefruit essential oil
Induce sleep3 drops lavender essential oil3 drops yarrow essential oilA diffuser or bowl
This feature is from Country Living magazine
What Other Essential Oils Help With Anxious Feelings
doTERRA Balance creates a sense of calm and well-being. doTERRA Balance blends grounding wood oils with Frankincense and Blue Tansy. Blue Tansys scent helps uplift mood, while Frankincense promotes feelings of peace and relaxation. doTERRA Balance is a powerful tool for countering cycles of worry and fear. Apply it to your wrists or neck to ease anxious feelings.
doTERRA Cheer is another helpful product for anxious feelings. This blend was designed to counteract negative emotions while promoting feelings of optimism. Cedarwood is another essential oil that can be very helpful. It has a calming and relaxing aroma that can be used to evoke feelings of wellness and soothe worry.
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How To Use Essential Oils For Anxiety Stress Depression And Sleep
Hiya Gorgeous,
I never leave home without my essential oils. Theyre especially helpful when Im on the road giving lectures and doing book signings. As many of you know, travel creates a lot of wear and tear on the body. It can be super stressful, and did I mention the insomnia? Yeah, that too.
In fact, I struggle with insomnia when I travel, especially across different time zones. Some nights I sleep, other nights no such luck. Then the frickin fear of not sleeping sets in, which creates anxiety and a vicious cycle that ultimately leads to bags and the blues. This is one of the many reasons Ive been trying to learn more about essential oils.
While there are so many wonderful and therapeutic reasons to use aromatherapy, today Im sharing some of my favorite oils and their health benefitsspecifically for stress, anxiety, depression and sleep issues.
Stop stress before it takes over! Grab my free Pep Talk guided meditation track:
Using Essential Oils Aromatherapy For Anxiety
With todays astonishing electric powered or battery operated fan, heat, plus cool diffusers you are sure to select the right one designed for dispersing the oils potent vapors into the space. You will need to dissipate into the air the mist to inhale into your body. Whenever you think you might have an anxiety episode away from home, keep a container of your favorite essential oil in your purse or satchel for quick relief. Lavender, ylang-ylang, and frankincense would be good for this.
Add a few drops to your bath where you will gently breathe it in and it will be absorbed throughout your skin for two times benefits simultaneously. Combine about 10 falls of essential natural oils in a carrier like a cup of water or milk plus add it the particular your running bath water. One oz of almond or even jojoba oil will be great for this calming and calming technique. Have your diffuser in the bathroom together with you emitting a soft squirt while you enjoy your quiet moments.
For more on uses of essential oils, and different details they can be used for, take a look at our complete listing of essential oils and what they are used for.
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Use Essential Oils Internally
If you plan on using any essential oils internally, consult with an aromatherapist for best practices first. Some essential oils, like tea tree, are toxic if improperly ingested.
While the FDA recognizes this list of essential oils as safe to use, it is important to remember that essential oils are concentrated from multiple plants i.e. one drop of lemon essential oil is made from pounds upon pounds of lemon rinds and are not easily digested by the body.
The ingestion of essential oils can cause stomach irritation, ulcerations in the mouth, esophageal tract and stomach lining, as well as severe allergic reaction, seizures and the wearing away of teeth enamel.
If you are interested in learning how to use essential oils in this manner, consider joining me in Stillpoints Aromatherapy Certification Program.
Do Try It If Youre Anxious
Simple smells such as lavender, chamomile, and rosewater may help keep you calm. You can breathe in or rub diluted versions of these oils on your skin. Scientists think they work by sending chemical messages to parts of the brain that affect mood and emotion. Although these scents alone wonât take all your stress away, the aroma may help you relax.
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How To Use Vetiver Essential Oil
Vetiver essential oil safe to inhale when its been distilled and released as a vapour. Using an aromatherapy diffuser to inhale the scent of pure vetiver oil is one way to use it for health benefits.
You may also try applying vetiver oil directly on your skin. Vetiver oil should always be diluted using a carrier oil. Add 1-2 drops of vetiver oil to carrier oil. You can gradually increase the amount of vetiver oil in the mixture.
Health And Medicinal Benefits
Thivi Maruthappu, consultant dermatologist and nutrition expert at Cadogan Clinic, says, There are no proven benefits of palmarosa oil.
Nevertheless, studies suggest that there may be some medical benefits of palmarosa oil. For example, it:
- may help support symptoms of anxiety and depression
A examined the effects of inhaling palmarosa oil on rats. It resulted in reduced total cholesterol and prevented toxicity in the liver.
Other studies have shown that palmarosa may provide some benefits for the nervous system.
According to a , palmarosa oil might prevent the development of Alzheimers disease and dementia, and the calming effects of the oil might help with anxiety and depression.
Still, more high quality human studies are needed to confirm or discount these potential benefits.
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Anxious Feelings And Essential Oils
Feelings of unease or worry can be helpful when they motivate you to take positive actions to solve problems. But they can be detrimental if they prevent you from experiencing joy and happiness in your daily life. If you have a difficult time soothing anxious feelings, there are essential oils that can help.
Sweet Basil Essential Oil
Essential oils from the herbaceous aroma family are renowned for their therapeutic properties. Basil is no exception. Actually, sweet basil essential oil contains phenol compounds that help relieve anxiety. These compounds can calm the mind and relieve stress, alleviating anxiety symptoms less severe or making them disappear completely.
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Aromatherapy For Anxiety: How To Use Essential Oils
Aromatherapy for anxiety uses essential oils, as the main therapeutic agents, which are said to be highly concentrated substances extracted from flowers, leaves, stalks, fruits and roots, and also distilled from resins.
If you are working on your anxiety you may want to consider aromatherapy as an alternative treatment. However, aromatherapy should never be used instead of your regular treatment. It can be used as an addition to your treatment or in case of mild anxiety. Research also showed that aromatherapy can also have a positive impact on the following conditions:
- Pain and body aches
- Muscular aches
- Headaches
Combined with practising mindfulness, aromatherapy can effectively help to release negative emotions, calm the mind and reduce stress. The simplest way to incorporate essential oils into your daily life is by inhaling them, dispersing their fragrance into the air, or by sprinkling a few drops on objects like your pillow at night.
Essential oils can also be applied to the skin or used in bathing, but some people may find them irritating when applied topically, especially if the essential oil is not diluted. Diluting essential should be done with carrier oils almond oil, or coconut oil.
Despite claims on the internet, essential oils should not be ingested as they have the potential for toxicity. Some essential oils also can be harmful to pregnant and breastfeeding women.
How To Use Essential Oils
Many essential oils are safe to use on your skin and fabrics in your home. Try adding a few drops of oil to unscented body lotion or spritzing an essential oil spray directly onto bedding, a couch or a blanket that you use often. You can even apply some oils directly onto your skin in areas like your wrists, behind your ears, your neck or the bottom of your feet. But before you start using these oils in multiple places on your skin, test it on a small patch of skin first to make sure it does not cause an allergic reaction or any itching, redness or irritation.
It is also important to make sure you are not buying an essential oil that is polluted with synthetic materials, fillers or toxins.
“Not all essential oils are created equal and buying the right product will make the world a difference when using them to help with things such as anxiety. It is very, very important to educate yourself on how to use essential oils safely. Talk to your primary care provider, a dermatologist or a certified aromatherapist before you use any new product, says Newton.
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Essential Oil For Anxiety
Here is an anxiety relief essential oil blend from Prime Natural. You can apply it to your skin to naturally soothe your body and mind. Also, you may put it in a diffuser to fill your home with a gentle and refreshing fragrance. The oil contains silver fir, ylang-ylang, norway spruce, juniper needle, and cedarwood.
Apart from reducing anxiety and elevating your mood, it can be used to make candles and homemade deodorants as well.
This concludes my list of the best essential oils for sleep and anxiety.
Here are some more helpful resources:
Sniff Or Inhale Oils Scents Through Cotton Ball Or Tissue Paper
A creative way of inhaling essential oils scents is pouring a few drops on a clean cotton ball or tissue paper. This perfect hack comes in handy when you are on the go and want to relax your senses in a stressful situation.
Just pour a few drops on a tissue and breathe in the scent to encourage a good mood. In addition, essential oils aromas help calm headaches and congestion, promoting breathing ease and concentration.
A blend for you:
- 1 drop of orange oil
Pour on tissue paper and breathe in the scent by keeping your eyes closed. Avoid contact with the skin at all times.
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