Essential Oil benefits and uses includes aiding sleep, relieving sleep and anxiety, massage therapies, a good air freshener, excellent cleaning agents, pain reliever, support weight loss, prevent cancer and aid digestion. Other benefits includes supporting nail health, detoxifying the body, treating allergies, treating depression, support healthy joints and bones, treating respiratory illness, promoting mental alertness, supporting circulation, balancing hormones, treating motion sickness and supporting heart health.
For a long time, essential oils have been considered to be used for their medicinal and aromatic benefits. Essential oils are gathered by the process of distillation. Chemists have been using essential oils for various medicinal applications throughout history. There is a lot of research that is being undertaken currently on the medicinal benefits of these oils. There are a number of physical benefits that are associated with essential oils. Some of the benefits and uses are discussed in this article.
Benefits and Uses of Essential Oil
1. Help with Sleep
Certain essential oils such as Lavender, Chamomile and the likes are known to have relaxing properties that can help put you to sleep and get a good night’s rest. These oils contain therapeutic properties that are excellent options for treating insomnia and improve your quality of sleep to a great extent.
2. Relieve Stress and Anxiety
Essential Oils such as YlangYlang and Frankincense help reduce your stress by sending calming signals to your brain and improving your mood significantly. Essential oils can thus help relieve stress and anxiety by bringing mental as well as physical changes in your body that are likely to be reasons for your stress and anxiety. You can also apply a few drops of certain essential oils to your temples in order to get instant relaxation.
3. Massage
Essential oils are widely known for their use in massage therapies. These essential oils are known to have relaxing properties and are hence used on the body to provide relaxation to the nerves and muscles. However, these oils are used along with a carrier oil to ensure better absorption by the body.
4. Scent
You can also use essential oils such as lavender and cedar wood in order to make a natural deodorant that gives a pleasant scent. Lemon essential oil is used as an air freshener whereas eucalyptus essential oil is used as a floor freshener.
5. Cleaning Purposes
Owing to the antiseptic and antibacterial properties, essential oils are also used as excellent cleaning agents. Different essential oils are used as solutions to cleaning stubborn stains as well as molds. Oils can also be used to disinfect and clean carpets, bathtubs, counter tops and all kinds of other household items. You can also make wood polish from essential oils that help you keeping your furniture looking new.
6. Pain Reliever
Essential oils are considered to be natural methods of relieving pain. They work by using their analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties to treat pain. They decrease the intensity and duration of the pain significantly. Peppermint essential oil is known to relieve headaches and managing the intensity of headaches.
7. Weight Loss
Grapefruit, Cinnamon and Ginger Essential Oil are known to be helpful for people who are trying to lose weight. These oils help your body lose weight by balancing blood-sugar levels,reducing inflammation and breaking down fat in an effective manner. Some oils also help in weight loss by reducing the amount of food cravings experienced by a person.
8. Anti-cancer
Due to the anti-oxidant properties found in various essential oils, certain essential oils such as clove and citrus oils are considered to be good options to help prevent and treat cancer. Essential oils are used by a lot of cancer patients in order to find relief from treatment side effects as well as growth of the white blood cells.
9. Aid in Digestion
If you are frequently faced with digestive problems, it is a good idea to try treating your digestive problems with essential oils. Oils such as ginger, tarragon, peppermint and clove are some of the many essential oils that help in digestive problems by reducing inflammation, relaxing the muscles in the digestive tract and reducing the symptoms of nausea, upset stomach and bloating.
10. Nails
Some oils such as Lavender, Myrrh, Lemon and other are known to give the proper nutrients to nails. Nails require these nutrients to grow and become strong. These oils can be used to form a mixture in which you can soak your nails and expect healthy and strong nails.
11. Detoxify
In order to get rid of the negative effects of our environment, it has become vital to regularly detoxify your body on a regular basis. One way of detoxifying your body is by using certain essentials oil in your life. Detoxification can be done in any of the three ways i.e. by inhaling, internal use or topical application. The antioxidant properties of oils such as May Chang, Lemon Teatree, Lemongrass and Lemon Myrtle prove to be effective in the detox process.
12. Allergies
Essential oils also help the immune system by building up white blood cells and thus strengthening the body’s immune system. Once the immune system of your body is improved it is easier for you to fight allergies.
13. Depression
Bergamot, YlangYlang, Chamomile and Lavender oil are known to help treat the symptoms of depression. They do so by relieving anxiety through the relaxing properties found in these oils as well as giving the body a better sleep throughout the night.
14. Healthy Joints and Bones
The essential oils are packed with a variety of Vitamins and Minerals that help support joints. The anti-inflammatory properties found in these oils can be used in treating arthritis and lessening the intensity of the symptoms associated with it.
15. Respiratory illnesses
Illnesses such as Bronchitis, Asthma, Pneumonia and Sinusitis can be treated by using a number of essential oils. The Vitamins in essential oils can help the immune system of the body fight these illnesses. Essential Oils also help in expelling phlegm from the body which is caused by infections.
16. Mental Alertness
Certain essential oils such as Sandalwood, Rosemary and Basil are known to provide mental clarity to a person and help in boosting a person’s brain health. Essential oils are also considered to give relaxation to your nerves which removes stress from your life. This helps your brain to operate at an optimal level with more focus.
17. PMS
Essential oils can also be used to reduce the symptoms of PMS. The oils that help do so include, Rose, Lavender, Eucalyptus, Chamomile and YlangYlang. Some of the essential oils also regulate the menses and help make them regular. These oils reduce the symptoms of PMS by relaxing muscles, fighting anxiety and improving the mood.
18. Circulation
Some of the essential oils are known to be absorbed by the body and help the body have a better circulation system. These oils include ginger, cypress and eucalyptus.
 19. Hormones
Hormone imbalance is a very common problem that is faced by a lot of adults in today’s world. Luckily, there are a number of essential oils that can be used in order to regulate hormones. These include Anise, Lemon, Geranium and Basil Essential Oil.
20. Heart Disease
Since essential oils are rich in anti-inflammatory properties, they help fight a number of heart diseases. Essential Oils such as frankincense oil, ginger oil and helichrysum oil are considered to be some of the top natural remedies for serious illnesses such as Coronary Heart Disease.
21. For Babies
Topical use of essential oils or using as diffusers can result in a sound sleep for babies. Oils such as Lavender and Chamomile result in giving babies a good night’s rest and make the babies less cranky throughout the day.
22. Motion Sickness
Peppermint Essential Oil can be used as a diffuser to reduce the symptoms of motion sickness. The refreshing aroma of this oil can help relieve nausea. Roman Chamomile oil is also known to provide relief.
23. Burns and Wounds
Essential oils are considered to be extremely useful when treating skin infections or wounds. Lavender oil plays in important role in healing the skin in such situations and reduces inflammation.
24. Teeth
There are several oils which are beneficial for a person’s teeth. Some examples include Clove and Tea tree essential oils. These oils have antibacterial properties which help in preventing conditions such as gingivitis.
25. Hair
Essential oils are of great importance when it comes to hair. Essential oils like lavender oil, rosemary oil, cedar wood oil, thyme oil, peppermint oil and the likes are of great importance. Lavender essential oil has properties which provide deep relaxation. This oil, as well as thyme and peppermint essential oils, prevent hair loss and promote hair growth when massaged into the scalp.
26. Stretch Marks
The healing properties of certain essential oil help speed up the process of healing the stretch marks. These oils include Patchouli oil, Lavender oil and Sage oil.
27. Face
For years, people have been using essential oils on the skin to look beautiful and have a glowing skin. Essential oils like lavender, tea tree, lemon grass, chamomile are top priorities. Tea tree, lemongrass, and chamomile oils are widely used for acne too.
28. Muscles
The antispasmodic properties coupled with the anti-inflammatory properties help the essential oils become one of the best remedies for problems with the muscles. Peppermint essential oil is considered to be a muscle relaxant that is used to treat spasms. Also, Cypress and Frankincense essential oils are helpful in reducing inflammation and treating the spasms.
29. Blood Pressure
By reducing the stress in the body as well as the inflammation, essential oils are quite beneficial when it comes to maintaining the blood pressure. Lavender, YlangYlang and Frankincense are oils that are helpful in reducing the blood pressure.
30. Uterine Conditions
Essential oils such as Thyme, Geranium and Lavender can be used to decrease the growth of uterine fibroids in women. In addition to that, Clary Sage, Anise Seed and Sage Essential Oils are even said to increase the fertility in women.
In the end, it could be said that the essential oils have amazing benefits that we can make use of. However, before using any essential oil it is better to use a diluted form. Also, do a thorough research on all the properties of essential oils to make sure there are no adverse reactions.
