Essential oils infuse your living space with pleasant aromas, but they also deliver amazing health benefits. What are essential oils? How are they created? And what are their health benefits? Keep reading to find out.
What are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are the concentrated aromatic essences of plants, seeds, flowers, bark, roots, fruits, wood, and other parts of plants that have been steam distilled or cold-pressed.
They are volatile, meaning that they evaporate easily and will quickly evaporate at room temperature. The essential oil molecules are very small and need to be diluted in a carrier oil before being applied to the skin or evaporated into the atmosphere via a diffuser.
Essential oils contain many different chemical compounds, including terpenes, resins, flavonoids, chlorophyll, phenols, and a variety of other beneficial compounds.
How Essential Oils are Made and Extracted?
Techniques to create essential oils have been around for centuries, with ancient healers accessing the benefits of plants through salves, poultices, and medicinal teas. These were the only forms of medicine available for thousands of years until the pharmaceutical industry came along with other options.
As more people turn to more traditional healing methods, now is as good a time as any to understand where your aromatherapy products come from and how they are created.
Essential oils are extracted from the plant’s aromatic essence, or the oil responsible for the plant’s aroma. Plants use the oil to attract pollinators, repel predators, and inhibit competitive species from growing in the same area. Many essential oils also act as an anti-microbial system to protect the plant from disease.
Glandular structures in the plant produce the oils, which are extracted using steam distillation or cold pressing.
In steam distillation, hot steam pulls the oils from the plant and is forced through a tube where it condenses back into the water. The oils are collected as they separate from the cooling water.
Cold pressing, most often used to produce citrus oils, involves agitating the fruits of the plant with spikes or grating to puncture the oil sacs beneath the surface. The fruit is then pressed to squeeze out the oil and juice before going into a high-speed centrifuge that separates the solids and liquids so the oil can be extracted.
Benefits of Using Essential Oils
Essential oils are often marketed as a cure-all for a wide variety of ailments. However, even the highest quality products are no substitute for medical care. Instead, think of essential oils as an addition to a healthier lifestyle and a way to improve your self-care. Here are just a few of the benefits of essential oils.
Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Phytomedicine published a review [*1] of 90 randomized and nonrandomized studies in 2019 and concluded that inhaling or ingesting lavender oil can lower anxiety levels.
Headache Relief
Headaches are a massive health issue, affecting up to 75% of the population. According to this review [*2], an application of peppermint oil around the head and temple could provide some headache relief. Due to its cooling and analgesic properties, peppermint’s menthol component is believed to be most responsible for headache relief.
Nausea Relief
Peppermint and ginger essential oils are often used for nausea relief and digestive discomfort. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics published a review [*3] revealing the potential for peppermint to lower nausea-inducing inflammation and relax gastrointestinal muscles.
Other health benefits offered by essential oils include:
- Easing menstrual cramps
- Improving sleep quality
- Antimicrobial effects for disease protection
- Relief from muscle pain
Using Essential Oils at Home and Business
You can use essential oils at home or at the office for a variety of benefits, from improving productivity to creating a more welcoming, stress-free environment for your customers.
Rosemary – Promotes productivity in the office as it helps to increase concentration and focus.
Bergamot – Boosts the room’s overall mood with its delightful Earl Grey tea scent and makes an excellent environmental cleaning spray.
Lemongrass – A lemongrass-infused office environment will ensure everyone is alert and energized. The aroma is also an excellent insect deterrent, especially against fruit flies and gnats.
Clove – The heady pumpkin spice aroma of clove is peaceful and uplifting, and perfect for promoting good cheer around the holidays.
References:
[*1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31655395/
[*2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115001033#bib36
[*3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5814329/