How to use essential oils to ease stress

The soothing fragrance of essential oils can help you de-stress naturally. There are multiple ways to use them to attain relaxation and let go of persistent worries. How can you avail yourself of the benefits of essential oils to improve your emotional health?

In this article, we will answer this question and help you familiarize yourself with essential oils’ healing potential.

Essential oils are derived from parts of specific plants that have been traditionally valued for their medicinal properties. The common ones among them include rose, lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree, sandalwood, and orange. The term essential comes from the word essence, implying the characteristic fragrance of that plant. Essential oils are generally extracted from the leaves, roots, stems, bark, flowers, fruit peels, or buds, depending on the plant, through the steam distillation process.

The use of essential oils for therapeutic purposes by inhaling their vapors forms the practice of aromatherapy. It is believed to be helpful against stress and nausea, provide relief from pain, and promote overall well-being. Some essential oils known for their stress-relieving properties are rose, lavender, jasmine, and ylang-ylang oil.

Having gained a basic understanding of essential oils and their uses, let us now proceed to the main part: how to avail of the benefits of a stress-relief oil.

Here are some effective ways in which you can utilize essential oils to relieve anxiety and stress.

You can apply the essential oil to your skin after diluting it with a suitable carrier oil, such as olive, jojoba, or coconut oil. Massaging the mixed oil on your neck, shoulders, and soles, when done along with a breathing exercise, provides stress relief and a sense of relaxation.

You can opt for an essential oil inhaler or aromatherapy pen to experience the soothing and de-stressing fragrance of an essential oil on the go. Owing to their small size and ease of use, aromatherapy pens can be quite helpful in calming your nerves, irrespective of where you are.

Essential oil diffusers heat the oil and diffuse its vapors into the surrounding space. They are ideal when you want to make your living space fragrant and effortlessly inhale the oil-infused air. There are different types of essential oil diffusers that you can choose from according to your preference and convenience, such as:

• Candle diffusers: Use a candle flame to heat a small water bath infused with essential oils.
• Reed diffusers: Based on the slow evaporation of essential oils through rattan or synthetic reeds immersed in the oil in a glass bottle.
• Ultrasonic diffusers: Spread a thin mist of essential oil-infused water into the surrounding air through ultrasonic vibrations.
• Nebulizing Diffusers: Use undiluted oils for diffusion while providing a stronger scent.

Soaking in a bath infused with the fragrance of essential oils is another effective way to beat stress. You can add about 10 drops of an oil of your choice to warm water along with some Epsom salt and baking soda to ensure a good mixing of the oil with the water. It is also possible to add different essential oils together to the water; just take care to add fewer drops of each one of them than you would in the case of a single oil.

Apart from the standard ways to use essential oils, you can also go for some easy options that require no special preparations or apparatus. You can put a few drops of an essential oil on a small piece of absorbent material (a cotton ball or cloth) and fix it near the air vent on your car’s dashboard. You may also apply a few drops of the stress-relief oil to your pillow’s edges or place a cotton ball soaked in it inside the pillow cover to experience a mild and relaxing fragrance when you hit the bed for sleep.

Here are some precautionary measures that will help you safely and effectively use essential oils to relieve stress:.

• Consult a physician before you start using essential oils, as they may sometimes lead to adverse side effects. Let the doctor know if you have a history of allergic reactions.
• Before applying the diluted essential oil to your skin, conduct a patch check to ensure you are not allergic to it.
• Keep the concentration of the essential oil in the mix below five percent and follow the usage guidelines written on the package.
• Go for a reputed manufacturer and check the purity-related details, manufacturing, and expiry dates on the outer pack.
• Ensure good ventilation while using oil diffusers, and use them intermittently for thirty to sixty minutes instead of continuous operation.

Using essential oils to relieve stress can effectively complement other stress-relief practices like meditation, regular exercise, and a healthy diet. Explore the different essential oils with stress-relieving properties and go for the one whose fragrance appeals to you the most and to which your body is not allergic. It would help to seek a naturopathic physician’s advice before going ahead with essential oils for stress relief to make things safer and get better results.