Six Savvy Ways to Utilize Essential Oils in the Home
May 31st, 2011    Subscribe To Our FeedWhen you and your guest first enter your home, what is the first thing that you notice? It is probably the smell, either good or bad. If you want to make sure that you have the freshest smelling home on the block, why don’t you try using essential oils? Essential oils are easy to use, come in a wide variety of scents and are safe, all natural products. If you are new to using essential oils in your home, here are six savvy ways that you can use these handy oils in your home.
Before you start using essential oils in your home, you should know some basics. First, essential oils are highly concentrated. They are oils that are extracted from seeds, plants, trees, flowers and grasses. Because of this, they are highly flammable. When you use essential oils, you will want to make sure that you keep them away from all heat sources such as the fireplace or candles. In addition, some people are allergic to concentrated essential oils. You should never use undiluted essential oils on your skin, with the exception of lavender and tea tree oil. Also, keep all bottles of essential oils away from children and pets. They can irritate the skin and could cause danger if ingested.
Scent your home: One of the most popular ways to use essential oils in your home is to make your home smell wonderful. You can experiment with the various scents to see which one that you like best. You can also combine essential oils for a unique smell to freshen your home. In addition, you can change the mood in your home just by using the right essential oils. If you want your guest to feel relaxed and comfortable, try using lavender. If you want to invigorate, try peppermint. You can add six to eight drops of your favorite oil to boiling water. It is easy and will soon fill your home with wonderful scents. You can also add drops of essential oils to glass candleholders or tart burners to help fragrance your home.
Freshen your laundry: Did you know that you could use essential oils in your wash? You can add just a few drops of lavender or other scent to your wash cycle to get a fresh smell every time. This is especially nice for towels, sheets and other bed linens. If you do not like the idea of adding oils to your wash, you can add a few drops of your oil to a spray bottle filled with water and then you can spray the bottle directly on your linens or even your clothes. Need to freshen your rugs or curtains? You can do the same thing.
Deter insects: You can also use essential oils in your home to deter a wide variety of insects. Moths dislike lavender, so you can put a few drops on cotton balls and leave in your drawers. tea tree oil is good for detracting biting insects. You can use it on your skin as an insect repellant.
Help with colds: You can place a few drops of citrus, tea tree oil or peppermint in a humidifier or near a radiator in the winter months to help clear nasal passages. This is very helpful for allergies, too.
Cleaning: Essential oils are also great to use for cleaning around the home. You can wipe down kitchen and bathroom surfaces with a mixture of water and lemon, thyme, cypress or lavender. Not only will the oils help clean, but it will leave your room smelling fresh, too. tea tree oil is a known disinfectant. Use tea tree oil where you might want to kill germs lurking.
First Aid: You can also use tea tree oil to help with first aid. Add a few drops to minor cuts and scrapes to help the healing go faster. You can also use tea tree oil to treat head lice.
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Is Aromatherapy the Great Alleviator for Illness
January 17th, 2011    Subscribe To Our FeedAromatherapy can work to combat many ailments. The therapy can be used to relieve more than stress, and is often use to fight against illnesses. Essential oils contain molecules that send healing messages to the brain once they are applied or dispersed through the air, triggering nasal receptors. The brain experiences changes of chemistry that tells your body to numb the pain. The most common physical complaint for many people is arthritis. Sore areas can be treated with a blend of ginger and peppermint oils dispersed in a carrier oil such as almond, olive or jojoba. Using these oils together will have the effect of cooling hot spots in the body and bringing oxygenated blood to affected areas. Cold sore can be treated using tea tree oil with geranium or lavender oils. Tea tree mixed with chamomile oil is also effective in treating eczema.
Pain and soreness in the muscles can also be soothed through the use of aromatherapy. Certain essential oils can be mixed with carrier oils and added to a bath are directly to the skin before a bath. Headaches and migraines are other common ailments that can be alleviated using aromatherapy. The oils are highly effective in diminishing the pain of headaches and migraines. Oils such as, basil, lavender, Eucalyptus, and linden blossom oil can be diffused through a room or rubbed on the temples and neck. Using these oils can relieve the pain of headaches that may be caused by stress and tension.
Headaches that are caused by sinus problems may also be effectively treated using aromatherapy. These headaches are best relieved by the diffusions of basil, clove, lemon, Eucalyptus, lavender, juniper, pine, and frankincense. If a headache has hormonal causes, then it is best relieved by chamomile, clary sage, geranium and lavender. Aromatherapy is also effective in treating nausea. A blend of peppermint and ginger oils can be rubbed in a circular motion on the stomach and pulse points. The blends should be applied using a cloth that contains a few drops of the oil so that individuals are able to absorb the aroma. Essential oils are also effective in the treatment of hangovers. peppermint, orange, ginger, basil, and Eucalyptus oils can be used to rid individuals of the feeling they have after drinking too much.
Aromatherapy oils are also useful in the treatment of cancer. The oils do not stimulate the immune system directly, but they can complement treatment by boosting the system’s ability to fight off infections. There are certain oils that can stimulate lymphatic drainage, and have antibacterial properties. Cancer patients can receive great benefits from receiving aromatherapy treatments. There is some research in motion to determine how aromatherapy can help treat and heal burns caused by radiation treatment safely and effectively. It may also be possible for aromatherapy to soothe pre-treatment anxiety, and it may also manage memory loss that is common in cancer survivors.
The treatment can be used to cure insomnia. Aromatherapy is known to induce sleep, and is often recommended to insomnia sufferers. The oils can also help fight against anxiety. The therapy provides a relaxing environment, and can help many nervous individuals ease their mind. It is also used to relieve stress, which can lead to many other health problems. So, using aromatherapy on a regular basis can help many people avoid serious health problems. A variety of aromatherapy products and methods are available for consumers to use. By diffusing these products, consumers can obtain the healing benefits of aromatherapy. Oils such as lavender and sandalwood can be applied directly to the skin to receive the total healing effects, but others are too concentrated for this. The oils that are too concentrated to be applied to the skin must be diluted into carriers such as massage oils, and lotions.
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Top Six Essential Oils and their Beneficial Properties
January 3rd, 2009    Subscribe To Our FeedProbably the most popular essential oil is lavender. lavender has many of the versatile qualities of tea tree oil and of mint oils while also being perhaps the most pleasant-smelling essential oil. What this means is that it’s doubly popular; anything that is effective, but also smells or taste wonderful, is going to win out over something that is effective but has an unpleasant smell or taste. lavender is used for relaxation, for antibacterial properties for insect bites and for keeping the home fresh, especially for room sprays and for linens.
tea tree oil is another of the top six oils. tea tree oil is easily the most versatile oil when it comes to having a wide variety of uses, but it also has a somewhat unpleasant smell in its undiluted form, making this oil second to lavender essential oil. tea tree oil can be used for anything from repelling insects to treating gout. It can also be used for decongestion purposes and can be used to clean out wounds because it has ant-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. tea tree oil is extremely potent and should always be used with caution for the first few times that you use it in order to make sure that you are not allergic to it or that someone in your house is not.
Other popular essential oils come from the mint family. Arguably, peppermint is the most commonly sold essential mint oil although there are many other varieties of mint that are used for similar properties. peppermint is used most notably for relaxation, both physical and mental and can also be used to calm the stomach (although doctors do not generally recommend that essential oils be ingested). Some people even use mint essential oils as a breath freshener, a drop being the equivalent of chewing gum for an hour. Do this with caution though as it can produce a burning sensation and will undoubtedly make your eyes water with its potency.
jasmine also is a hallmark of the top lists of essential oils. This potent flower is most commonly used as an anti-depressant scent. jasmine also has many properties that make it a very useful essential oil for women who are pregnant or post-partem; women who’ve recently delivered a baby find jasmine to be very helpful in relieving symptoms of depression and generally feelings of being overwhelmed. Experience practitioners may use jasmine to intensify labor contractions during childbirth.
chamomile tops the list of calming essential oils, although the above-listed lavender comes in at a close second. Many who find lavender to be too strongly scented use chamomile. Another benefit chamomile has over lavender is that chamomile is considered safe for ingestion, and indeed chamomile absolutely tops the herbal teas section of any store because it has a calming, sedative effective, and, in addition, it is very effective against indigestion—and gentler than mint essential oils used for the same reason. chamomile can also be used to relieve premenstrual symptoms and is effective, for some people, for the treatment of acne and other skin abnormalities.
rose essential oil is one commonly overlooked, but that’s a real shame because its benefits are many. rose is known to have slight effects on many varied complaints, ranging from reduced libido to sore throat. In a nutshell, rose can do almost anything, but in a gentle way that makes the experience a much nicer one, especially for those of you new to the fabulous world of essential oils. Best to start with the gentle before heading on the graduate level of essential oils like tea tree.
If your interested in learning more about Aromatherapy have a look at Learn the Power of Aromatherapy
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