Been feeling stressed lately? Been feeling stressed… forever? I think all of us feel stress or anxiety at some point in our lives, and while there are many medical remedies, there are natural remedies to try as well. The natural remedy we’ll talk about here is the magic of essential oils. Essential Oils are concentrated plant extracts that are able to harness the scent, taste, and essence of their source.
Various natural scents have been tied to influencing mood and emotions, and certain scents are able to relax you, and help you keep calm and carry on (pun intended). Here’s a list of 8 essential oils that are sure to trigger the good times in your frazzled brain.
We’ll start off with perhaps the most obvious and well-known strain of essential oils: lavender. For decades, lavender has been added to various beauty and bathing products with the promise of relaxing your skin and muscles, and leaving you smelling absolutely divine. Lavender has also long been added to tea, to encourage a restful night’s sleep and a calm interior.
Smelling lovely and being as calming as it is, lavender is the perfect essential oil to get your collection started. You can often find essential oils at your local grocery or drug store, but you can also find them online. Amazon offers both an oil and a roll on version, so you can choose how to use your oil. You can diffuse it by purchasing an electric diffuser (also available on Amazon), or you can simply roll it onto your body to benefit from the smell more directly.
Another easily recognizable name on the list, chamomile is known by many as the thing they add to nighttime tea to help you sleep. Chamomile is actually a very beautiful white flower, and it is also one of the essential oils that can be used in a plethora of ways. Chamomile was discovered in 1598 by a man named Joachim Camerarius, who discovered it in Rome, so occasionally it is referred to as “Roman” Chamomile.
Roman chamomile has long been used to treat ailments such as digestive upsets and even healing open wounds. More modernly, it has been used as a treatment for anxiety, depression, and insomnia, all very real mental health illnesses that affect huge numbers of people in the U.S. It’s sweet yet light floral scent is meant to soothe and relax you, and make it easier for positive thoughts and feelings to take hold.
You can drink a drop or two of chamomile essential oil in your evening tea, or you can diffuse it in your bedroom to encourage a peaceful night’s rest. Like almost everything else, it’s available from Amazon.
Roses are the flower of love and romance, and they smell absolutely lovely. Is it such a shock that the purest form of their scent can be used to promote healing energies? No way! Rose essential oils are particularly useful because they’re shown to help on both the inside and outside of your body.
Rose oils can be used to treat various skin symptoms, such as acne, aging, eczema, rosacea, and even reduce the appearance of scar tissue. Rose essential oil is also useful for inhaling, as it’s been shown to improve anxiety, depression, headaches, and even menstrual symptoms. Like the others, it’s available on Amazon and should also be easy to find at a local store!
Floral essential oils are incredibly popular in the world of essential oil diffusing. The scent they release is able to help improve mood and send chemical signals to your brain that encourage a calm and controlled psyche. Geranium is another one of those wonderful oils.
Geranium flowers produce another floral oil that helps with inflammatory skin conditions such as acne and even abrasions. It is believed to have antibacterial, antiseptic, and antimicrobial qualities, making it incredibly helpful for healing such conditions. With no side effects discovered, it’s a wonderful option for keeping both your skin and mind calm and collected.
Clary sage is a species of sage that was long ago used to “clear” eyesight, giving it the nickname “clear eye” and eventually shortening to “clary.” Now, you’ve probably seen people burning sage on those ghost shows and in horror movies, right? They say it cleanses the house of evil spirits and whatnot? Well this sage is a little different, and it actually has fabulous qualities that aid in mental health illnesses.
Those of you who are consistently and painfully stressed, those with project due dates, essay due dates, a job, a family, friends, and everything in between, clary sage is one of the essential oils for you. Clary sage is said to help with both stress and depression, and it treats those things in a natural way, with smell. As with the others, you can find this locally or online!
A lot of us might think of Christmas and wintertime when we think of peppermint. December is always the time of year that peppermint bark and peppermint ice cream make their long awaited return to the market. Many are soothed by the scent of peppermint purely because of the thought of Christmas, and a much needed break from every in the world that isn’t spending time with the ones you love most.
Peppermint essential oil not only represents Christmas cheer, but it also represents healing. Peppermint has been studied extensively in the area of gastrointestinal syndromes such as IBS, and it has been found to not only calm the digestive tract, but also decrease pain. Plus, the scent that is released while the oil diffuses is shown to ease your mind and promote mental focus.
Lemon is a very bright and distinctive smell (and taste!) and it works wonders on boosting your mood. Feeling down and having trouble keeping it together? Lemon is the perfect remedy for those days that are a little extra difficult and long, as it wakes you up and gets you ready to smell the roses.
The tart and sourness of the scent (and taste, if you choose to ingest it), is what catches your attention and helps you to focus, which helps to give you a mood boost. This quality of lemon has led it to be used to treat depression and exhaustion, two things that plague many of us millennials and Gen Z kids. Lemon is another easy oil to find both in-store and online!
With perhaps the most uses on the list, rosemary comes in to finish our discussion of essential oils. Rosemary is a needle-like plant, like pine, and it has a strong scent and flavor, which is why it’s often used to season food. However, flavor is is not the only helpful quality rosemary has.
Rosemary can potentially improve brain function, stimulate hair growth, reduce pain, repel insects, ease stress, and even work as an antibacterial agent as some of the above essential oils are known to work as. Rosemary essential oil is easy to get ahold of in-store or online, and fresh rosemary for cooking can be found right in the veggie section of your local grocer.
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