Which Essential Oils Should I Choose
These are the oils that are known for their mood-boosting properties, great for helping with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress.
Just remember: Scent is incredibly individual. Not everyone will respond the same way to the same oils. Its always best to try out different oils and pay close attention to your own bodys responses, and choose oils that you personally respond to. Each oil has its own unique properties, so experiment with blends using the oils that speak to you.
Lavender
Lavender is the quintessential relaxing scent. Use Lavender together with deep, resinous scents like Frankincense to create calm and peace or with lighter citrus notes to provide a lift in mood.
Bergamot
This bright, fresh-smelling oil is excellent for brightening mood and lifting spirits. When used with Neroli and Vanilla, Bergamot is one of our favorites for moments of feeling overwhelmed or stressed!
Frankincense
Frankincense is one of the most frequently used oils and when blended with Cedarwood or Sandalwood. It can be useful to help calm and focus your mind, creating a relaxing and meditative feeling.
Geranium
An uplifting and balancing essential oil, Geranium is best blended with deep scents like Vetiver or Patchouli. This oil has a very strong, floral scent and when combined with either of those grounding, calming scents can create a very relaxing environment.
Vetiver
Chamomile
Mental Emotional And Physical Well
Popularly known for being a culinary herb, rosemary is from the mint family and has been used in traditional medicine for centuries. Rosemary essential oil has a woodsy fragrance and is considered a mainstay in aromatherapy. However, rosemary oil has a wide range of uses, from treating ailments and pains to promoting hair growth, making it beneficial to have on hand in your home.
Promote Hair Growth And Beauty
Rosemary essential oil has been found to increase the growth of new hair by 22 percent when massaged onto the scalp. It works by stimulating scalp circulation and can be used to grow longer hair, prevent baldness or stimulate new hair growth in balding areas. Rosemary oil also slows the graying of hair, promotes shininess and prevents and reduces dandruff, making it a great tonic for overall hair health and beauty.
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Powerful Essential Oil Blend For Anxiety Stress And Depression
You can create an essential oil blend for emotional support to alleviate apprehension, fear, negative feelings, or anxiety.
- 3 drops each of lavender, ylang-ylang, geranium and orange essential oils
- 1 oz. of carrier oil
Combine these essential oils and carrier oil into a small glass bottle . You can double the amounts for a larger amount. Whenever you need to calm your mind and relieve stress, open the bottle to take a sniff or use as a massage blend.
To help alleviate stress, anxiety, and tension after a hard days work, you can add the blend to your bathtub.
Top 5 Essential Oils For Stress And Anxiety
July 14, 2021 by Emma Carter
At times, we all struggle to find balance between work, family, and leisure. Our modern lifestyle is becoming more and more demanding. Worrying or getting anxious about different events happens more often.
Aromatherapy can help ease your symptoms! It is the art and science of using plant extracts to stimulate our brains positive emotional responses. Use these top 10 essential oils for stress and anxiety to help your body and mind relax.
This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Contents
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A Simple Breathing Exercise To Alleviate Anxiety
Practice this simple breathing exercise to help lower levels of anxiety.16 You can be standing, sitting or lying when completing this exercise. However, focus on relaxing your body and ensure there is no tension through your shoulders.
If focusing on your breathing in this way is making you feel more anxious, stop. It can take practice to feel the benefits of this technique, so try to do a little at a time and build up slowly.
Some natural supplements can also be helpful alongside these breathing techniques to relax, reduce feelings of anxiety, and improve your sleeping patterns.
Using Essential Oils For Stress And Anxiety: How They Work
In our brains, we have something called the limbic system. The limbic system is sometimes referred to as the emotional brain. This is because it directly connects with the brains systems that relate to emotions, memory, hormone balance, and even heart rate and blood pressure. When you inhale an odor one of the receptors that trigger is the limbic system, which is why we frequently connect scent to memories. Using essential oil blends for anxiety and panic attacks can help reduce symptoms by promoting physiological and psychological effects.
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Make Sure Your Room Is Cool And Comfortable
Studies show that sleeping in a room thats cooler is actually better for promoting sleep. Thats because our bodies naturally get cooler when were asleep as our heart rates drop and our blood circulation slows down.22
Before you go to bed, turn the heating off or down, close all the curtains properly and make sure your bed is as comfortable as possible.
Essential Oils To Aid Sleep
Aromatherapy before bed may help you get a better nights sleep. Try diffusing essential oils into your bedroom before sleeping to help you relax and let go of the day.
Ylang ylang is thought to have strong calming effects and promote relaxation, making it effective for clearing the mind before sleep.
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How Do Essential Oils Help Reduce Stress
Smelling certain essential oils can have an immediate calming effect on the brain. This is because the scent molecules from the oil travel through the olfactory nerves and to the amygdala, the part of the brain involved with experiencing emotions. Research shows that with the right scent, a persons mood can be altered, creating a sensation of relaxation in the brain.
What Are Essential Oils Good For
Although people claim essential oils are natural remedies for a number ofailments, there’s not enough research to determine their effectiveness inhuman health. Results of lab studies are promising one at Johns Hopkinsfound that certainessential oils could kill a type of Lyme bacteriabetter than antibiotics but results in human clinical trials are mixed.
Some studies indicate that there’s a benefit to using essential oils whileothers show no improvement in symptoms. Clinical trials have looked atwhether essential oils can alleviate conditions such as:
- Dry mouth
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The Best Essential Oils For Depression And Anxiety
There are a wide variety of essential oils available these days and finding the right oil or combination of oils to suit your personal feelings may take a little bit of trial and error. Certain oils however are well-known for their abilities to treat the mind and boost mood and some have been studied quite extensively.
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil Cananga Odorata
Ylang ylang oil is another essential oil with calming effects and the ability to elevate mood. It is a popular choice for people hoping to overcome feelings of depression and anxiety. It can also calm the palpitations associated with anxiety and has mild sedative effects that may help with sleep issues like insomnia.
A Korean study published in 2006 found that a combination of ylang ylang oil with lavender and bergamot oil helped reduce blood pressure as well as stress response and human cortisol levels. In the study, patients inhaled the combination of oils twice a day for a period of 4 weeks.
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Frankincense Essential Oil Boswellia Sacra Or Boswellia Carteri
Frankincense essential oil is an extremely popular remedy for anxiety as well as depression. Inhaling this wonderful oil helps calm the nerves and boost the mood. It is also used by aromatherapists to help with spirituality and meditation.
A study which used a combination of frankincense with lavender and bergamot oil found that it had a very positive effect. The subjects who were patients at a Korean cancer hospice experienced a reduction in depression as well as pain.
How Can Essential Oils Help
Essential oils have a direct effect on the parts of the brain that control anxiety, stress, depression, and fear. They have the power to impact our emotions and feelings of well-being.
In fact, exposure to specific essential oils can decrease the heart rate and blood pressure. This provides relaxation, relieves unwanted stress, and helps you to feel back in control.
Oils interact with the body through absorption on the skin, and/or through ones olfactory system. Once the essential oil is in the body, it gives signals to the limbic system of the brain.
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Essential Oils That Help Relieve Stress And Anxiety
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure for more info. All printables are for personal use only.
Stress and anxiety can make your life feel like a never-ending uphill battle. You worry about everything from the future, to what you need to do at work, to all of the things you have to do at home. It feels like no matter how hard you try, there’s always something else that needs your attention. If you are dealing with anxiety and stress, there are many natural remedies that you can use alone or in addition to other treatments. One such remedy to alleviate this stress is through the use of essential oils. They can help balance out your moods and emotions within minutes that’s why essential oils are so great for aiding in stress and anxiety relief!
Your nervous system as well as the chemistry of your brain can be affected by the properties of various essential oils. They can certainly help with anxiety and depression, but remember they won’t cure the problem.
You are an individual with your own unique scent and sense of smell. Not everyone will respond the same way to each oil, so its always best for you to try out different oils and pay attention when choosing which ones speak most clearly on how YOU feel about them! There’s no right or wrong answer here – just have fun experimenting in discovering what inspires YOU most at this moment 🙂
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil For Anxiety
Ylang ylang essential oil is extracted from the ylang ylang flower which grows on the Cananga tree. It has a heavy, floral-fruity smell. Ylang ylang oil can lower the increased blood pressure level which usually happens at the time of anxiety, it has some sedatives which promote relaxation and boost your mood.
Ylang ylang essential oil blends well with geranium, bergamot, and vetiver essential oils. It would be best if you inhale it after properly diluting it with carrier oil.
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Avoid Technology For At Least An Hour Before You Go To Bed
Technology can have negative effects on us for a number of reasons, particularly when were trying to go to bed.
Thats largely down to the fact that most electronic devices emit blue light which stimulates the brain, making it much more difficult to switch off for sleep.23
Avoid looking at your phone or tablet for at least an hour before bedtime if you can.
How To Use Essential Oils Safely
Essential oils should be used with care and kept out of reach of children. Keep in mind that some essential oils are poisonous to pets, especially cats.
In addition, essential oils are not recommended for infants, people who are pregnant, older adults, or anyone with a serious health condition, without consulting a healthcare professional.
Never ingest essential oils. If you intend to apply any oils topically to your skin you should do a patch test with a 1:30 dilution ratio and watch for an allergic reaction during the first 4872 hours. To that end, essential oils should never be applied directly to your skin and should be diluted with a carrier or base oil.
We highly recommend you do your research to determine the best ratio of essential oil to base oil to avoid irritating or damaging your skin. Keep in mind that citrus oils, even when diluted, may react to sun exposure.
Consider an aromatherapy diffuser for inhaling essential oils instead of applying them topically. Simply add water to the base of the diffuser with about 510 drops of oil, depending on the size of your diffuser.
If your skin passes a patch test, you may also benefit from rubbing your diluted essential oil and carrier oil blend between your palms and then inhaling the aroma.
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How To Calm An Anxiety Attack Naturally
The breath is a valuable tool for calming anxiety attacks. In anxiety states, breathing tends to be limited to the upper body, meaning that we breathe shallowly, without completely filling the lungs. In addition, during a panic attack, breathing tends to accelerate, causing hyperventilation which worsens the state of stress.
At the first signs of anxiety, it is helpful to focus on your breathing and try to slow your breathing down. Different breathing methods can be used, aiming to breathe consciously, deeply and slowly. Thus, abdominal breathing is an effective technique for calming anxiety attacks: breath in through your nose, letting your stomach expand then breathe out slowly while the stomach deflates.
Breathing techniques go perfectly with aromatherapy, with essential oils acting as a complement to emotions via olfaction.
Essential Oils Really Work
A number of studies have demonstrated that certain essential oils are extremely effective in elevating mood and combating emotional issues like anxiety and depression. They are effective because their aromatic molecules can quickly cross through the blood-brain barrier. This means they can have a direct effect on those parts of the brain that control emotional responses like stress, fear, mood and depression.
A fairly recent study into the effects of essential oils on depression was conducted on 58 terminal cancer patients in a hospice. 58 patients were treated to a hand massage daily for a week. The massage oil was made up of 3 essential oils bergamot, lavender and frankincense diluted with a carrier oil .
Every patient treated with the hand massage reported a reduction in pain and feelings of depression.
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Side Effects And Precautions
Although there are many essential oils for anxiety, it is important to remember that all essential oils are liquids containing highly concentrated compounds.
Therefore, you should never apply essential oils undiluted to your skin to help relieve anxiety or treat other health conditions. Always dilute essential oils in a carrier oil such as coconut oil, sweet almond oil, extra virgin olive oil, or jojoba oil.
Some essential oils can cause an adverse skin reaction. Calming essential oils from citrus fruits such as bergamot, lemon, and orange can also increase sun sensitivity.
If you are pregnant, you should speak with your doctor before using aromatherapy essential oils to promote sleep, reduce stress, calm nerves, or deal with the symptoms of anxiety.
Severe cases of depression or anxiety cannot be cured through the use of essential oils alone. However inhaling certain essential oils can help you reduce stress and relax body and mind.
Always contact your doctor before you decide to stop your medication and solely rely on aromatherapy to ease your symptoms and negative emotions. You can also refer to my previous article about stress and anxiety, as well as my article about depression for more natural options to treat these issues.
If you are interested to learn more about essential oils you can find useful information in my e-bookMagical Aromatherapy. This e-book will help you to discover the power of essential oils and the most effective ways to use them.
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Anxiety Attack Vs Panic Attack: Whats The Difference
There are differences between anxiety and panic attacks, and it is helpful to understand their characteristics to identify and combat them.
Anxiety is the feeling of being nervous, restless, or uncomfortable. Sometimes it is manageable, but other times it can become overwhelming and difficult to control condition. Anxiety is present constantly, you can continue to feel it deep inside, in the subconscious of the mind. When experiencing periods of anxiety, there is a sense of nervousness, distrust, depression, lack of concentration and malaise in any context. Very often, however, phenomena related to anxiety are neglected or not taken seriously: this can become the most frustrating aspect for those who suffer from it.
The panic attacks, also called a panic attack, occurs when the nervous system feels attacked or endangered. These are episodes in which there is a sudden and violent fear or a sudden escalation of the anxiety commonly present. It may feel as if you are about to collapse, pass out or choke, have a fast heart rate, or be short of breath. You may feel spasms, tremors, chills, dizziness, muscle aches, nausea, hot flashes, excess sweating and you may feel fear of dying or going crazy. The panic attacks can last a few minutes or a few hours.
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