Calm Your Environment and Stimulate Your Senses...
How to Get the Most From Your Essential Oils
Finding Certified Organic essential oils is just the first
step… Getting them into your body without harming their fragile
components is the second, and possibly most important step of
all. Are you maximizing your potential benefits?
The use of essential oils has recently skyrocketed – and for
good reason. One of nature’s best kept secrets for centuries,
essential oils are a simple and effective way to shift your mood
and vitality almost instantaneously.
Embraced by cultures since possibly the ancient Egyptians,
they’re time-tested and now research-confirmed. High-quality
organic essential oils can indeed support your emotional and
even physical health.
What are essential oils? The purest essential oils are
extracted from the leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark, stems
and roots of wild-grown plants carefully cultivated in various
climates and regions around the globe. When produced and handled
with care, they can retain important therapeutic qualities of
the plant.
However, as potentially valuable as they may be, essential
oils just sitting in a bottle won’t do you much good. You
must get them into your body.
While many people like to massage them into their skin – and
that’s an excellent way to use certain essential oils, the fastest and most efficient way to get essential
oils into your lungs and throughout your body is through your
sense of smell or your olfactory system.
A Virtual Expressway to Your Brain and Emotions
Of all your five senses, your sense of smell is the fastest
way to reach your brain.
When you inhale an essential oil, the benefits
are almost instantaneous
In your nose are smell receptors that respond to scents.
These receptors send chemical messages along the nerve pathways
to your brain’s limbic system, also known as your “emotional
brain.”
Your limbic system controls many basic functions: your
breathing, heart rate, memory, stress levels, and even your
hormones. It’s intimately involved with your moods and emotions.
When your limbic system or your “emotional brain” is
stimulated by the scent of an essential oil, it can have
profound effects on your mind and body. Scents can invoke
memories, stimulate feelings, and arouse your senses.
However, with essential oils, it’s important to note that
your olfactory system isn’t just limited to your nose…
Certain essential oils can be absorbed through your nasal
cavity and through your bronchial tract and lungs.
All these “fast track” delivery systems help explain how your
body – and your brain – can respond so quickly to a calming or
invigorating essential oil scent!
Four Ways to Get Essential Oils Into Your Body Via Your
Olfactory System
A heat diffuser may be a popular way to use
essential oils, but heat and flames can destroy an oil’s
fragile components
There are 4 types of essential oil diffusers, some preferable
to others…
Nebulizing Diffuser - Air is pumped
through a chamber filled with the essential oil, creating a
vacuum to disperse the oil into the room as superfine
droplets. Best to run only 15 minutes out of every hour to
conserve oil and allow your olfactory system time to
recover.
Pros:
Can saturate large rooms quickly
Offers greatest concentration of essential oil
components
Doesn’t require water
Cons:
Most expensive type of diffuser
Uses up essential oils faster
Noisier than other diffusers
Must set timer to control run time
Ultrasonic Diffuser - Uses electronic
frequencies to disperse oils from a small reservoir of water
via a jet of air. A small disc under the water creates
vibrations that break the essential oil up into micro fine
particles, even finer than a nebulizing diffuser, and then
uses the room’s natural air flow to disperse the mist. These
particles are small enough to be inhaled into your lungs and
into your body for maximum potential therapeutic benefits.
Pros:
Superfine particles easier for your lungs to
absorb
Economical – uses only a small amount of oils
Can double as a humidifier, adding moisture to
the room
Much quieter than the nebulizing diffuser
Cons:
Requires water to use it
May not be as concentrated as the nebulizing
diffuser
Evaporative Diffuser - Systems using
inhalers, pendants, devices, and even fans that depend upon
air diffusion to evaporate and disperse the essential oils.
You receive the essential oil in two stages: the lighter
molecules first, and then the heavier ones.
Pros:
Quiet, passive way to receive the aroma
Ideal for use in car or while traveling
Cons:
Less therapeutic value because you don’t get all
the essential oil molecules at the same time
Heat Diffuser - Uses heat to evaporate
the essential oil, which alters its chemistry and renders it
ineffective.
Pros:
Silent
Cons:
Damages the fragile components of the essential
oil
You don’t get all the essential oil molecules at
once
Few, if any, therapeutic benefits
While you might get a higher concentration of essential oil
components in a larger space with a nebulizing diffuser, its
drawbacks lead me to recommend the ultrasonic diffuser instead.
Ultrasonic diffusers are quieter, far more
affordable, don’t consume as large of quantities of essential
oils, and disperse superfine aromatherapeutic particles that are
easier for your lungs to absorb.
They’re ideal for living rooms, dens, bedrooms, offices, and
if the right type, they can make terrific nightlights for kids’
rooms.
