About a year ago I suffered from a bout of anxiety. No where near to the extent that others do but it really opened my eyes to the illness. How it can make you feel and how life changing it can be for some people who suffer from it quite badly. Before going through it myself I couldn’t understand how feeling anxious could take over your life. How wrong could I have been! In my quest to find treatments or remedies at home to help with the effects of anxiety I came across an article on essential oils. This took me back to when I was doing my ITEC Diploma in Aromatherapy and the effects these oils could have on our bodies. Oils such as Lavender and Bergamot I remembered were meant to be great for helping with anxiety.
I read that this was due to receptors in the nose being able to send chemical messages to the area of the brain that deals with your basic emotions like anger and fear. It’s thought that these signals stimulate the brain to create a chemical production that affects physical and mental health. How true this is, I’m not sure but it was in my text book at college so I guess there must be some truth to it?!
Anyway, on remembering all this, I wanted to give it a go. I’m not one of these people who believe in the power of the mind and all that, I’m really quite sceptical but wanted to give it a go and see if it worked for me….
Purchase In-Store Or Online
There are a number of places you can get these essential oils online and pretty much any health food shop. However, if you are new to essential oils, I would advise you go in to a shop and do some smelling first and maybe ask a member of staff to guide you to the right oil for your complaint. You will want to get the 100% pure essential oils for it to work effectively. It should say on the bottle if you’re not sure, ask one of the sales staff.
Helpful Reading
Since then, another source I have used over and over again is the book Essential Oils You Cant Live Without by Daniele Festy. It’s only £12.99 so it wont break the bank and is FULL of great information; whether you’re a newbie or an expert in essential oils. The book has over 300 ways you can use essential oils in everyday life and also includes recipes for all kinds of things such as – fragrant bath treatments, hand creams, skin reviving scrubs, hair masks, shampoos and conditioners and so many others. There seems to be a recipe you can make at home pretty easily for just about everything! It also has remedies for things like anxiety, insomnia, stress, anger, depression, sexual fatigue and even memory loss. If you are interested in knowing more about essential oils, I would highly recommend getting this book, it’s fab!
There are a few ways of being able to use these essential oils so a variety to find the one that works for you.
Bathe In The Oils
The first way is to add a few drops to a hot bath. A really relaxing way to use these oils.
Another way is to add a few drops to a bottle of water and use as a room spray or mist to use as and when you feel the need. Great if you don’t want to be constantly sat in a bath or you don’t have a bath.
Sleep Issues
If you have trouble sleeping, try adding a few drops of Lavender oil to your pillow or to a cloth underneath your pillow. This should really help relax your brain before you go to sleep. For me, it didn’t leave me feeling sluggish or over tired the next day, it gave me a really nice, natural sleep.
Another way to make full use out of Lavender for sleeping is to use a diffuser. These days you can get all kinds of diffusers from the plain and simple. To the ones that change colour and have set timers. I use the Sakura Aroma Diffuser which is amazing! I love that i can set it to go for 60, 80 or 120 minutes and it will turn itself off. (Brain like a sieve!) Plus, the changing colour feature is great for creating a relaxing atmosphere. I will add a few drops of lavender to the diffuser around an hour before i go to bed so the room is filled with relaxing scents to help me drift off. They have a huge variety of really good quality essential oils so you don’t have to use lavender if you aren’t keen on the scent.
Direct Application
Don’t do this with the Bergamot but with the lavender, you can put a few drops directly on your skin. I found putting a drop on each wrist was a great way of being able to have it around me all day without being overpowering.
Body Lotions
You can add either, or both of these essential oils to a natural body lotion and use it that way. This is more of a subtle way to use them and won’t have such instant effects but it’s great for long term use and will make your skin feel great.
Candle Burners
Also, the last way I tried was to add a few drops to a candle burner. Put a bit of water in the top where you’d normally put your wax melt and add a few drops of the oil. You really don’t want to much in there though as its really strong and can be overpowering. For me, I found this great for getting the whole house smelling great and it would make me feel super relaxed and calm. Those little candle burners are great for so many things and if you’re anything like, you’ll already have one being a but of a candle addict!
Collaborative Post
Great post! For anxiety I would also recommend tee tree oil.
It helps for chronic stress and insomnia as well.
Best regards 🙂