BY SALLY WONG • UPDATED: DECEMBER 8, 2020 • HEALTH AND FITNESS

Essential oils have garnered a lot of attention lately for their powerful health benefits. You may have come across essential oils being sold in shopping centers, and thought, “Well, they smell good, but do they really have any powers beyond that, or is this just another health fad?”

While it’s always important to do your research when seeking new ways to improve your health, you can rest assured that essential oils do in fact have many benefits that go far beyond a pleasant aroma.

In fact, they have been used for ages around the world in order to promote human health.

Mental Benefits of Essential Oils

Essential oils are actually extremely beneficial to your mind. As we tend to associate good health with eating well, getting sleep and exercising the mind can sometimes get neglected. However, the mind is a vital component to our overall health and well-being.

There are things you probably do on a routine basis to keep your body healthy, like going for swims or for long walks. This is because you know your body will begin to deteriorate without regular exercise. The same is true of the mind; if we don’t continuously provide the mind with nourishment and exercise, then it too will lose its strength.

Essential oils can play a big role in keeping your mind healthy and “in shape.” Read on for three surprising ways essential oils can benefit your mind.

Reducing Anxiety with Essential Oils

If you are someone who suffers from anxiety, essential oils can be used to help alleviate anxiety attacks. And even if you do not suffer from anxiety, essential oils can still help to calm your mind.

When you inhale the scents of essential oils, your nose communicates with the limbic system of your brain, which is the part of the brain that controls emotions. It is also connected to the part of the brain that controls hormone balances, stress levels, heart rate, blood pressure, memory and breathing.

The limbic receives the signals from the nose in order to release emotions of peace and contentment brought on by the oils.

Studies have shown that lavender can be a powerful essential oil to help reduce anxiety. Other excellent options are sweet orange, bergamot, sage and angelica.

Activating your parasympathetic nervous system is the key to staying calm no matter what craziness is occurring in the world around us.

Your sympathetic nervous system mobilizes your physical and mental response to threats and stress. It releases stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, to help you fight or flee. Your muscles tense and your vision narrows, allowing you to narrow your focus and pay close attention to the external, physical world.

Inhaling or topically applying Parasympathetic™ behind the earlobe on the mastoid bone where the vagus nerve is closest to the surface of your body helps stimulate your vagus nerve to activate the parasympathetic state and calm your nervous system.

Alleviating Depression with Essential Oils

When feeling down and out for an extended period of time, many people turn to prescribed medication. While these can sometimes be beneficial, they often come with harmful and negative side effects and in the long run end up doing more harm than good.

Essential oils can be excellent alternative to alleviating feelings of depression, as there are no side effects involved. In this case, the nose also communicates with the limbic system in order to help uplift your mood and induce feelings of relaxation.

Bergamot oil makes for a great anti-depressant, as a few whiffs can help stimulate feelings of joy and increase blood circulation to help re-energize the body and mind. A study conducted in Thailand proved that it is also powerful in helping treat anxiety.

Some other oils that are great for helping to fight depression are chamomile, jasmine, sage, orange and frankincense.

Improving Memory and Concentration

You may already be reading and doing crossword puzzles to help keep your memory and concentration up to par. Incorporating essential oils as a part of your memory health regime can prove to be very beneficial.

In particular, scientists have found that rosemary can help boost memory by fifteen percent. In this study, scientists tested participants using a set of perceptive memory-related questions in three different types of rooms. One room was infused with rosemary, another with lavender, and the third was given no scent. Participants’ test scores significantly improved in the room infused with rosemary.

Other oils that can help improve memory and focus include basil, sage, peppermint and cyprus.

To help enhance your focus, apply 2- 3 drops of Focus™ over your temples 2-3 times daily or as needed during moments where additional focus is needed. You can also put a few drops on a tissue or cotton ball and hold it where you can smell it.

These are just three ways essential oils can help benefit your mind. If you suffer from anxiety or depression or want to improve your memory, they are certainly worth investing in. However, every mind works differently, so it is always important to consult a physician before taking any drastic measures.

It is also very important to note though that not all essential oils are produced equally. To ensure you are reaping the maximum benefits from the oils, make sure you investigate the brand, as some companies who are strictly in it for profit over-dilute the oils or add harmful chemicals to them to reduce the cost of production.

Where and how have you used essential oils? Have you ever used essential oils to reduce anxiety or help with depression? Do you have a favorite essential oil that you love to use? What other benefits of essential oils have you experienced? Please share in the comments.

HOW TO ELIMINATE STRESS AND PREVENT WEIGHT GAIN

We are living in uncertain times

and now on top of ongoing life challenges and work demands there is the uncertainty and negativity brought on by coronavirus and this may be causing you constant stress.
What you may not be realizing is that this constant stress is adding an extra layer of fat deep in your belly which is unsightly, unhealthy and difficult to get rid of.

Belly fat releases chemicals which trigger inflammation.

In turn, this increases the likelihood that you will develop heart disease or diabetes.
Cortisol is a steroid hormone, commonly known as the stress hormone, produced by the adrenal glands and it is released when your body senses stress.
It takes a few minutes for you to feel the effects of cortisol in the face of stress, because the release of this hormone takes a multi-step process involving two additional minor hormones.
First, the part of the brain called the amygdala has to recognize a threat.
It then sends a message to the part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which releases corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). CRH then tells the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH),
which tells the adrenal glands to produce cortisol.

Problems arise when you are in a constant state of stress

the body continuously releases cortisol. Like other hormones, it’s vital to survival but chronic elevated levels can lead to overeating, weight gain and more serious issues.
Too much cortisol can suppress the immune system, increase blood pressure and sugar, decrease libido, produce acne, contribute to obesity and more.
When cortisol production kicks into overdrive, it affects the entire body in a breakdown process that basically ages people before their time.
Another connection to weight gain is cortisol’s effect on appetite and increased cravings for high-calorie foods.
Continual stress leads to a constant state of excess cortisol production, which stimulates glucose production.
This excess glucose gets converted into fat, ending up as stored belly fat.

Alongside the stress and the resulting chronic overload of cortisol, you also feel tired and listless.
You reach out for high carb foods to renew your energy and comfort yourself, with the end result of even more extra inches accumulating around your belly.

It is generally accepted that stress-induced cortisol weight is usually gained around the waistline, because fat cells in this area are more sensitive to cortisol. The fat cells in your abdomen are richer in stress hormone receptors, are particularly sensitive to high insulin and are very effective at storing body fat.

Unfortunately, this is the most dangerous place to gain weight, as it can lead to metabolic syndrome, diabetes and heart disease.

Signs of Cortisol Induced Weight Gain

Weight gain particularly around the abdomen and hips
Difficulty in losing weight
Bloating or Water retention
Headaches
Mood swings
Irritability
Sluggish metabolism
Stomach problems
Foggy thinking, memory loss
Feeling tired or dizzy
Trouble sleeping/insomnia

How to Decrease the Hold Stress Has on Your Body

If you change your reaction to stress, or change what causes stress, you can completely change your body’s chemistry, lose weight and improve health.

Pay attention to lifestyle improvements that allow you to take time out and look after yourself.
Adopt attitudes of forgiveness, letting go, positive attitudes and feelings of gratitude.
Step away from toxic family and friends that may be causing undue stress in your life.
Follow a balanced, real food-based diet. Follow the food charts given at the start of the program.
Do not eat on the run, at your desk, standing up or when you are feeling high levels of stress, this interferes with the absorption of the nutrients.
Don’t cut calories to extremely low levels. When you are under stress the need for nutrients is greater.
Research has shown that when listening to soothing music, cortisol doesn’t rise as much.
Try and get a good night’s sleep.
Get a pet, even if it is a goldfish!

Yoga and Meditation for Stress Release

Practicing meditation can significantly reduce cortisol production. Most things that are in your control when it comes to healing with stress include relaxation techniques, yoga, exercise and meditation.
When the source of stress is ongoing marital or sexual problems, specific counseling may be required.

The Breathing in Flow training program will trigger your optimal performance and catapult your performance levels by 300% while simultaneously boosting testosterone, improving recovery time, curing performance anxiety, fatigue, sleep problems, respiratory conditions and controlling weight gain issues.

Yoga is one of the best practices you can do if you need help to relieve stress. We all have stress in our lives, but what we do with that stress, and how we let the stress affect our life, is the real issue that needs to be addressed.

Essential oils for reducing Cortisol

Adrenal™ : These small, triangular-shaped glands secrete cortisol to regulate energy production and storage, control blood sugar, immune function, heart rate, muscle tone, and other processes that enable you to rapidly respond to stress.
The health and resilience of the adrenals (along with the hypothalamus and hippocampus) help to determine our tolerance to stress. To help keep your adrenals balanced and not over releasing cortisol,
apply 1- 2 drops of the Adrenal™ on the adrenal glands (lower mid-back, one fist above the 12th rib on each side) upon waking, before bed and throughout the day as needed.

Hypothalamus™ : This pearl size region of the brain located just above the brain stem serves as control center for neural and hormonal messages received from/sent to body, including signals to trigger the release of cortisol.
The ability of the hypothalamus to receive clear messages from the body is critical as all outgoing endocrine and neural signals are based on the clarity of these incoming signals, including the ability to put the brakes on cortisol release.
To optimize the ability of the hypothalamus to send and receive signals, apply 1 drop of Hypothalamus™ on forehead slightly above the third eye up to 6 times daily.

Circadian Rhythm™ : Our sleep/wake cycle, known as our circadian rhythm, requires the release of melatonin, a hormone crucial to sleep.
Melatonin has an antagonist relationship to the stress hormone cortisol and the two hormones in conjunction help regulate our circadian rhythms.
This means that when cortisol is high, melatonin is low. Chronic and prolonged stress triggers the adrenal glands to release cortisol and throws off the body’s natural cortisol/melatonin rhythm.
Cortisol should be high in the mornings when you wake up and gradually taper off throughout the day so you feel tired at bedtime and can fall asleep.
High levels of cortisol at night, drive down melatonin and make it difficult to fall asleep. To return the circadian rhythms to balance and put the brakes on the night time release of cortisol,
apply Circadian Rhythm™ above ears, on top of skull and very back of the head before bed.

Vibrant Blue Oils Stress Support Kit™ contains three powerful oils – Adrenal Balance®, Hypothalamus™ and Circadian Rhythm® – that when used in combination with healthy lifestyle changes , helps support the body’s systems of stress management.

Have you found yourself under stress lately? What did you do to relieve the stress in your life?
Or, perhaps this is the first time you have been made aware of how stress can impact your life.
I would love to know what changes you made to help you be more aware of the stress in your life,
and what you did to help cope with it. Please share your experience in the comments below.

Month: March 2021

EXPLORING THE SURPRISING BENEFITS OF ESSENTIAL OILS FOR YOUR MIND