Essential Oils and Mental Health Benefits

All throughout history, scent has played an important role in the lives of humans. This is also the same concept utilized by aromatherapy in its use of aromatic essences from natural essential oils.

Aside from their pleasant fragrances, essential oils offer therapeutic effects on the body that help invigorate the mind and senses. Furthermore, as positive energies are introduced into the body, it also improves function and overall mental capacity. To produce psycho-physiological effects on the body through essential oils, any form of application that would allow easy penetration of its properties into the skin or for it to enter your system is really important.

Therapeutic properties contained inessential oils play a significant role in offering psychological effects that improve mental health. Below are some of the properties present in most essential oils that benefit your mental capacity with their corresponding suggestion of essential oils that make good sources of such properties:

*Sedative – cedarwood, melissa, chamomile, valerian, neroli, and petitgrain.
*Antidepressant – mandarin, sandalwood, lemon, ylang ylang, jasmine, geranium, and orange.
*Calming properties – peppermint, rosemary, and basil.
*Rejuvenating properties – bergamot, lime, lavender, cypress, marjoram, petitgrain, violet leaf, and rose.

People suffering from anxiety are often bothered by thoughts and worries such that s/he is unable to relax. Their active mind often results to inability to sleep or get quality sleep at night. Therefore, a person struggles to find an emotional balance due to the presence of mental anxiety.

There are several applications that you can try using essential oil recipes to cure any form of anxiety. This includes bathing, inhalation, or massage to release anxiety. The suggested ingredients for this particular blend include 10 drops of basil, 10 drops of lavender, and 3 drops of neroli.

Nervous tension could happen for several reasons including stress, mental worries, and other external factors that could contribute to the intensity of the feeling. You can then prepare a simple essential oil recipe to ease tension, relax your nervous system, and create a balance in your emotional equilibrium.

For this recipe, you will need 10 drops each of petitgrain and lavender, and 4 drops of roman chamomile. You can apply this as massage oil, bath, or inhalant to introduce the healing essences into your nervous system.

To learn more about what essential oils can help combat mental conditions and how these oils can help, read further below.

Depression is a common type of mental condition that is caused by a series of factors. Due to the serious nature of this condition, even psychological and medical experts have difficulty pinpointing the right treatment for this condition. Stress can be a cause or effect of depression, which makes studying this condition a lot more tricky.

Aromatherapy is an effective way to reduce or relieve one from depression. Essential oils that contain sedative and antidepressant properties are ideal for battling depression. Some of the essential oils suggested for depressive behaviors include neroli, jasmine or lavender. When the healing components of the oil reach the limbic system, it alters the functions of your brain and reverse those negative behaviors into positive vibrations.

Like depression, stress can have physical or mental manifestations. However, the latter is more capable of producing an impact on one's health condition. Common factors that can contribute to the formation of mental or physical stress is pressure from work and anxiety associated with it.

When choosing essential oils to combat stress, you need something that will help both your mind and body to relax. Clary sage is an example, which is more ideal for stress caused by emotional conditions. Lavender is another type of essential oil that you can use for stress that result in sleeping disorders.

One of the biggest benefits produced by the use of essential oils is improving mind clarity and agility. For mental conditions caused by stress from work, improving mental performance is crucial in boosting your job performance. With a sharper mind, you are better able to focus and concentrate on the task at hand.

The benefit of essential oils in terms of improving mental performance begins by balancing your mood. Eventually, mental stimulation will follow with the use of essential oils including eucalyptus, peppermint, or rosemary. These essential oils create strong but not too overwhelming scents that will effectively liven up your senses. The mental stimulation process happens as the healing essences of the oil reach your limbic system and produce vitality of mind.

This explains why several offices use aromatherapy candles since the scent help reinvigorate their mind and body during times when work tends to become tedious.

The type of oil you use in treating mental conditions or improving overall mental health depend on various reasons. First, you need to determine exactly what type of mental condition you have. Then, you need to assess what type of essential oil properties or oil will help improve your condition. You might need to perform a bit of research on this stage. Then, you need to filter your possible options according to what essential oils are easily accessible within your area.

Below are a few essential oils for common mental conditions:

Lavender

Aside from skin care and aromatherapy for children, lavender is highly useful in addressing various mental conditions, specifically mental fatigue. Lavender essential oil has soothing properties that relax your nervous system and regain equilibrium in the body.

Rosemary

Aside from being known as a culinary herb, rosemary also has its fair share of aromatherapy application. This is most useful for stress and nerve tension. Same with the aromatic essences it introduces into a dish, rosemary essential oil help in relaxing your nerves so you can enjoy better quality sleep at night. 

Peppermint

Peppermint essential oil comes with a strong aroma that effectively wakes up your senses. It is also for this same reason why aromatherapists suggest that it is not ideal for pregnant women or children. However, it is beneficial in improving mental clarity and efficiency.