Essential oils have long been hailed as the answer to optimum physical and psychological wellbeing, with aromatherapy touted as the remedy to everything from mental health to bodily ailments. These are the seven essential oils you need to be introducing into your life, STAT.
Lavender
There’s a reason why your nan waxes lyrical about lavender. Massaging the oil onto sore muscles and painful joints can help alleviate pain, while adding a few drops into moisturiser can help with skin conditions such as acne or eczema. The multi-faceted floral can be also be used to reduce anxiety and relax the brain, simultaneously serving as a serious sleep inducer.
Peppermint
Spring is just around the corner, and with it, a deluge of sniffles, sneezes and streaming noses. Not to fear, my hayfever prone friends, for peppermint can help to fight seasonal allergies. Fight nature with nature and add a drop or two to your tea, its soothing properties will relieve nasal and sinus congestion.
Frankincense
If all you know about Frankincense is its necessary requirement in pre-school nativity plays, prepare to be informed. Also known as olibanum, Frankincense is an oil that is extracted from the gum or resin of its namesake tree and has been known to reduce pain and inflammation, boost the immune system and even improve memory.
Bergamot
Bergamot is the unofficial essential oil for depression, we’ll have you know. While, of course, it doesn’t cure the mental health disorder, it has been used as a complementary therapy alongside other conventional treatments thanks to its anxiety and stress-reducing qualities.
Mandarin
There’s a reason the delightfully cheery scent of mandarin usually wafts around your nose mid-massage, for mandarin essential oil is used by aromatherapists as a general tonic to help with stress and tension and is also added to massage blends to help boost circulation and reduce water retention.
Eucalyptus
Spring is just around the corner, but those winter ails are still lurking around like a serious bad smell. Eucalyptus is the hero of all heroes when it comes to curing ailments, the oil’s therapeutic benefits are antibacterial, they reduce aches and pains and relieve the senses. To clear those nasal passages, add 10-15 drops of eucalyptus oil to a bowl of boiling water before breathing in the soothing vapours.
Chamomile
Can’t sleep? Chamomile it is, the oil works to promote sleep and treat insomnia. To truly inspire lights out with a one-two punch, diffuse some chamomile oil while kicking back and drinking a hot chamomile brew, expect to be on the road to dreamland in no time.
