Back to school can mean back to stress for many students.
If you have a pupil in your house or a young adult studying away from home, how can you help alleviate the anxiety brought on by a return to class? Essential oils are an excellent way to relieve tension, along with providing other health benefits.
Here’s everything you need to know about essential oils, and why they are a good choice for the stressed student.
What are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are plant extracts made by steaming or pressing the various parts of a plant—which could be the flowers, bark, leaves or fruit—which captures the compounds that produce fragrance.
It takes a lot of the plant to make these concentrated plant extracts, making them a “powerful botanical medicine.”
What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils for therapeutic benefit and healing. The word “aroma” might make you think the oils must be inhaled—which is one way to use essential oils. Diffusers disperse essential oils into the air, adding a pleasant smell along with healthy properties to the environment around you.
It’s said that the scent molecules in essential oils travel directly to the brain and especially impact the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain. Essential oils can be breathed in without a diffuser, and also provide powerful benefits when massaged into the skin, allowing the oils to be absorbed by the body.
Are Essential Oils Good For You?
The short answer to this question is yes. Alternative medicine has touted the benefits of essential oils for years—the tradition of steam distilling plants can be traced back as far as 5000 years. They are now being studied in modern medical contexts, with great results for health and well-being.
Here are a few studies that show the benefits of essential oils:
- Lavender essential oil increased the quality of sleep and reduced the level of anxiety in patients with coronary artery disease.
- Women with cancer reported the following benefits of aromatherapy massage: relaxation, reduced pain and muscular tension, and improved sleep, energy level, appetite and mood.
- A review of published research showed that different types of essential oils also have antimicrobial, antiviral, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.
- The same review also showed the psychological benefits included relieving stress, treating depression, and aiding with insomnia.
- Aromatherapy helps with allergies, relieving symptoms like sneezing, runny nose and nasal congestion. One study showed that aromatherapy helped with those symptoms as well as quality of life, sleep quality, and fatigue level.
Essential Oils for the Stressed Student
Nezza Naturals offers a number of options, from high quality, 100% pure essential oils to therapeutic blends. Choices include oils that will help with relaxation, sleep, boost the immune system, provide stress relief, or relieve respiratory issues.
Here are a few suggestions to consider for the student in your life—and for yourself:
- Lavender Essential Oil: Lavender is renowned for having many benefits, and is the most well known and widely popular essential oil. Lavender can help balance mood swings and encourage deep relaxation and positivity.
- Tea Tree Essential Oil: Another popular and versatile essential oil, boasting antibacterial properties, it also helps with acne and is good for headaches, among other benefits.
- Sweet Dreams Essential Oil Blend: lavender, sweet marjoram and roman chamomile will relax the nervous system and induce sleep—and can be used throughout the day to quiet the mind. Add to a diffuser, bath or massage oil.
- Stress Relief Essential Oil Blend: The name says it all as this blend of sweet orange, ho wood, petitgrain and sandalwood is a natural remedy to stress, supporting rest and relaxation. Add to a diffuser, bath or massage oil.
- Tension Headache Aromatherapy Roll-On: Essential oils in roll-on format are convenient and portable, and this blend of peppermint, Roman chamomile, lavender and sweet basil is a natural alternative to headache medication. Roll a small amount along the hairline and back of the neck, and breathe deep.
These are just a few ideas to get you started. If you or someone you know is suffering from stress, trouble sleeping, headaches or fatigue, try essential oils and aromatherapy for proven relief of symptoms. Our plant-based products are healthy for you, your family and the planet. For more information feel free to contact us at any time, and ask our friendly staff for help.
