Essential Oils for Relieving Stress and Improving Sleep

Last week we talked about Joy and PanAway, two oil blends that are in Young Living’s Everyday Oils Collection, which used to be the Essential 7 Kit. This week we explore more of the oils in that collection with guest bloggers Doug Corrigan and Karen Boren, who explore the neutralizing, stress-relieving, and other properties of Purification, Peace and Calming, and Lemon essential oils.

PURIFICATION IS A GREAT NEUTRALIZER

DOUG: One of the oil blends we haven’t mentioned that is so tremendous is Purification, which is hands down my favorite oil blend. I call it the great neutralizer because it is said that this oil blend is just tremendous at neutralizing things. It’s great for neutralizing odors.

Of course, those of you who know me know my great septic tank story from many years ago at a convention. I told about how I used half a bottle of Purification in a bus septic system that was backed up. Purification totally neutralized what was really the most odorous, unbelievable smell that you could have ever imagined on this bus full of Young Living distributors, so Purification really has a tremendous reputation.

I can’t emphasize enough that the Essential 7 kit [now the Everyday Oils Collection] is geared to the main areas where almost everyone is going to have a problem. Lavender can really soothe skin after a day in the sun, for example.

KAREN: I agree. I recently had a phone call from my youngest daughter, who had taken her kids out on a lake, and they were boating and having a great time. She talked about having taken along a bag of some of her oils that contained the Essential 7 kit, including Purification, Lemon, and Lavender, plus other favorites. Her then-four-year-old daughter is very fair, so Lavender is a must for her to have on hand for sunburns.  She is ready to handle most everyday situations with the versatile oils in her kit.

THE STRESS-RELIEVING PROPERTIES OF ESSENTIAL OILS

KAREN: Now let’s talk about stress—think about going to the dentist. To me, that’s right up there on the stress meter.

DOUG: That IS bad!

KAREN: I was excited to find out that researchers discovered that diffusing lavender and orange essential oil in a dental office calmed people down so that they were not so anxious about having dental treatment.

DOUG: That’s great! You also mentioned headaches last week. People will often get a muscle type of headache. Lavender and Peppermint can be a great combination for relieving tension.

Lavender has another use you might not think of. If you get a slightly sour stomach, just a little bit of Lavender Vitality on the tip of your tongue can help. It doesn’t taste quite as good as Peppermint, but it does work.

Here’s another great tip. Every day I put Lavender on my pillow at night, because it helps me sleep better. There are some studies, like this one and this one, that talk about how lavender improves sleep quality.

Every one of the oils in the Essential 7 kit [Everyday Oils Collection] can cause an emotional response, so when we smell any of the single oils or blends in it, we will likely have some kind of an emotional response, and for the most part, these are tailor-made to really boost our emotions and help us to manage our stress.

DOUG: Now let’s talk about another great blend—Peace and Calming, which has a couple of citrus oils: Tangerine and Orange. It’s a blend that we use a lot in our house. What I love is that it has a combination of a couple of other more base-note type oils that are mixed with the citrus oils, from which we get a lot of the uplifting scent. It’s uplifting to the point that we are calm and feel that our minds are clearer.

KAREN: I have a friend who witnessed a child having a meltdown on a plane and very quickly asked the mother if some oil could be applied to the child’s feet. The mother, at that point, was certainly willing—I think she would have done anything! So she accepted having Peace & Calming put on the little one’s feet, and the child settled down and was peaceful for the rest of the flight.

DOUG: I know that on long road trips or anytime we’re in close quarters with the kids, Peace & Calming is something that we’re constantly diffusing, rubbing on the soles of their feet, and seeing that we get great results. I think some of that response is due to the citrus, but the other part of that response is because of the Ylang Ylang. What are some of the interesting studies with Ylang Ylang, Patchouli, Blue Tansy, and other oils found in Peace & Calming?

KAREN: In the interest of time, I’ll just share one study from the journal Planta Medica, where they found that volunteers who applied ylang ylang essential oil to the skin were calmer and more relaxed than those who were in the control group. But there was also an increase in attentiveness and alertness. The study said that the effects could be characterized as “harmonization.” The people were calm but alert and not sedated. Gary Young has truly captured Peace & Calming in a bottle!

THE BENEFITS OF LEMON ESSENTIAL OIL

DOUG: An essential oil that jumps off the page to me with regards to the Essential 7/Everyday Oils Collections and emotions is Lemon, which is an oil on which we have a lot of research in regards to mood and emotions. Maybe you could talk about that, Karen.

KAREN: A 2006 study from three Japanese universities found that lemon oil had a significant anti-stress effect. So I can’t think of anything better to have in a little emergency kit for when, as an example, the kids take a huge can of peanut butter and slick down the tiled hall to make a slide.

DOUG: You’ve been in my house, I guess!

KAREN: I mean, there are all sorts of incidents that happen! Sometimes in a stressful moment, you try to calm down and count to 10. Instead, grab a bottle of Lemon oil, take a deep breath of it while you count to 10, and you will be able to deal with that stressful situation more calmly.

OTHER USES FOR LEMON ESSENTIAL OIL

DOUG: A lot of times our digestion is poor because our liver and gall bladder sometimes need to receive a little stimulation, and that’s when using lemon oil is great to start the day. Drinking a little lemon oil in your water can really help the detox process and start your day on the right foot. Instead of drinking some coffee, which is exactly the wrong thing to do for your digestion, why not stimulate your digestion with a little lemon oil? Then all of a sudden, your body will be ready to take on everything that’s coming its way, instead of starting the day in the red as far as health goes.

KAREN: Finally, this is just a purely household hint. I just get so irritated with price stickers that are on things I buy. When I get home, I try to scrape them off but to no avail. Lemon oil dissolves those stickers and leaves the product, whatever it is I bought, clean as a whistle.

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT AND ESSENTIAL OILS

DOUG: This week and last, we have meshed a list of wellness demands with essential oils that really perform well. A lot of people were probably surprised to find out that the area where oils excel the most, where there’s the most scientific literature, is in the area of emotional support and that these oils profoundly affect our mood, helping us to manage stress and other things.

KAREN: Essential oils do work with the body and with problems of discomfort; they seem to calm the body and make the muscles more relaxed so that discomfort is alleviated.

And speaking of how to use essential oils, the bottoms of the feet have an incredible number of nerve endings. You may have wondered about putting essential oils on the bottoms of your feet; that is a place where they just shoot right into the body and go to work.

DOUG: It’s important to realize that essential oils are a triple play. As you inhale their scent, there is an emotional response through the limbic system. Then as we apply them topically, they have a physical response, often a cooling or a warming sensation. And then there is a whole-body response that profoundly influences how our bodies work. The Essential 7/Everyday Oils—you can’t go wrong with them!