Everyone will experience anxiety at some point in their life. For example, you may feel worried and anxious about sitting an exam, or having a medical test or job interview.
In times past anxiety was important for survival, awakening our mind and bodies to fight or run away (flight) from an immediate threat - important if your life is in danger, but not something we experience often in our lives today.
Anxiety can be a rough thing to deal with. It can make you feel like everything is out of control, and that's not a good feeling. You deserve better than that! You deserve to have some control over your life, even if it feels like everything is going haywire. And you can take back that control with the help of essential oils.
Essential oils are all-natural products extracted from plants. They're great for helping your body relax and calm, and they can also help you to focus, which is an important when learning to manage anxiety.
These oils come in many different scents, so there's probably an oil for you, whether you like lavender oil or grapefruit oil or even something exotic like sandalwood oil or jasmine oil!
10 Types of Essential Oils and What They Do to Calm Anxiety
When it comes to essential oils, Neroli is what you will want to reach for. The name "Neroli" actually comes from an Italian princess named Anne Marie Orsini, who used the oil in her perfume.
This essential oil has a light citrusy scent described as sweet with a hint of spice. It's extracted from orange blossoms and is often used in perfumes because of its pleasant smell. This oil helps relieve panic attacks, stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. It also improves moods and reduces stress levels to feel more relaxed overall.
Lemon oil has been shown to reduce anxiety levels in humans and animals. It's also shown to decrease depression and sadness in humans, which helps relieve feelings of hopelessness associated with depression and anxiety disorders.
Lemon oil also has antiseptic properties that help fight germs that can cause infections like colds or flu when your immune system is weakened by stress or illness.
Bergamot essential oil is derived from the bergamot orange grown in southern Italy. The smell of bergamot is often described as citrusy or floral with a hint of mint.
Bergamot has been used throughout history as an aromatherapy treatment for anxiety because it's known to stimulate the mind and ease stress and anxiety. In fact, some evidence shows that using bergamot oil aromatherapy can reduce symptoms such as high blood pressure, depression, and insomnia due to its calming effect on the body's nervous system.
Roman chamomile is a sweet oil. You'll likely recognize its scent if you've ever taken a whiff of an herbal tea made with chamomile.
Roman chamomile has a soothing effect that can help relieve anxiety, depression, and insomnia. It's also known to aid in relieving muscle spasms, menstrual cramps, and digestive issues.
This oil is gentle enough to be used on children as well - try adding a few drops of it to bathwater or massage oil before bedtime with your little one, but never apply the oil directly to a childs skin.
Other Possible Benefits:
Relieves hay fever symptoms
Natural treatment for skin conditions - often used in balms and creams.
Roses represent love, romance, and passion. The scent of roses has been used to soothe and support people for centuries. Rose is a very delicate and sweet floral scent.
Rose oil is very uplifting to emotions and helps relieve feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Rose smells like you're walking through a beautiful rose garden on a perfect summer day, which is precisely why we use it in our Balance & Chill blend!
Sandalwood is one of the most popular essential oils because it works so well to calm anxiety. It's also known as "nature's Xanax" because it helps relieve stress and promote feelings of peace and tranquility.
Because of its ability to reduce stress and promote a positive mood, sandalwood is often used during meditation or yoga sessions. People struggling with anxiety may also find that using this oil helps them fall asleep at night.
If you're looking for a natural remedy to decrease your anxiety, look no further than frankincense!
Frankincense has treated and cured various diseases for thousands of years, including cancer. This is because frankincense contains terpenes, the natural compounds that give plants their unique scents. These terpenes have health benefits, including stimulating the nervous system. Research has shown that using essential oils containing these natural compounds can promote relaxation and reduce stress levels in humans.
Patchouli contains camphor which has been used for centuries as an antispasmodic agent to calm nervous tension and promote relaxation during meditation sessions. It's also good for relieving depression, stress and anxiety because it has such a lovely earthy smell that helps you feel calm when you inhale it from the bottle or rub it on your skin with a carrier oil like coconut oil!
Anxiety melts away with the spicy-sweet aroma of cinnamon bark. It's great for tension, stress, and anxiety as it helps you relax and calms you down.
Cinnamon bark oil is also used to treat infections and respiratory issues - so if you're going through a hard time, inhaling the scent of cinnamon bark will help more than just your mental health.
Peppermint essential oil is an excellent choice if you're feeling anxious or stressed out because it helps relieve tension, headaches, and muscle aches. It also has a cooling effect on the body that helps reduce sweating when used topically or inhaled through a diffuser.
You can also add a few drops of peppermint oil to an unscented lotion or face wash
How to Use Essential Oils for Anxiety
Here are tips on how to use essential oils for anxiety.
Inhalation: This is probably one of the easiest ways to use essential oils to treat anxiety. Place a few drops of lavender oil or another favorite essential oil on a tissue and inhale deeply. You can also place a drop or two of your favorite oil on cotton balls, which you can place in areas where you spend time, such as your bedroom or office. If you have trouble falling asleep at night, try placing a few drops on your pillowcase or bedsheets before bedtime.
Try our Calm Essential Oil Blend, containing the essential oils of lavender, frankincense and bergamot.
Topical application: Aromatic-based applications are another great way to use essential oils for anxiety relief. By simply rubbing oil onto your temples and behind your ears, you can help reduce anxiety symptoms without ingesting them orally.
Some people even claim that applying certain oils directly to pressure points on the body (known as reflexology) can help relieve stress and anxiety symptoms by increasing circulation flow throughout the body and releasing endorphins into the bloodstream.
Try our Uplift Roller Ball containing the essential oils of rosemary, lemon and peppermint.
Inhalation with a diffuser or nebulizer: You can also use an ultrasonic humidifier or nebulizer to disperse essential oil into the air in any room where you spend time - including bedrooms, bathrooms, offices, and kitchens. After turning off the device, this can help reduce anxiety symptoms by providing aromatherapy benefits for hours.
We offer a wide range of Aromatherapy Diffusers for use at home or work.
Final thoughts
In short, you can use essential oils to help reduce anxiety. The scent of the oil that you choose for your situation will play a large part in the effectiveness of these oils; since we most associate certain scents with different emotions, the oil you choose should have a calming effect. Think about it like this: when you feel anxious, what scent are you naturally attracted to? That is likely to be the best choice for you.
References
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/generalised-anxiety-disorder/overview/
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-is-aromatherapy-used-for-social-anxiety-disorder-3024210
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324478
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