Five Healing Benefits of Aromatherapy

You walk into a room of your home and are greeted with the lovely aroma of florals, rose, and geranium. Their scent is captivating, invoking a sense of well-being, calm, and relaxation. After a day of endless caregiving responsibilities, the healing power of essential oils are a welcome relief taking you into a personal space of resilient rejuvenation.

What is Aromatherapy?

Aromatherapy incorporates the use of essential oils—extracts from the seeds, grasses, roots, barks, stems, leaves, fruits, flowers, resins, zest, and wood of plants. Essential oils are so named since they capture the essence of the plant, its odor and flavor. Originating from nature, essential oils connect us back to nature imbuing a sense of being grounded.

In aromatherapy, essential oils active our smell receptors sending messages to the brain’s limbic system – the activation pathway for emotions, memory, learning, appetite, and sex drive. Essential oils may also balance emotions, shift moods, and create a sense of well-being.

Note that aromatherapy and the use of essential oils are not a replacement for serious medical or mental health conditions. Further, some essential oils are not suitable under certain conditions. Consult your physician prior to use.

Benefits of Aromatherapy

1. ESSENTIAL OILS CAN REDUCE STRESS

Family caregivers often report higher levels of physical and emotional stress than non-caregivers. As we experience life through our senses – particularly the sense of smell-, our body systems respond accordingly affecting our mood, breathing, thinking, feeling, movement and more.

Due to its calming, balancing properties, lavender essential oil is the most common essential oil used to combat stress. Lavender is known to reduce stress by relaxing the brain waves, which in turn decrease cortisol levels that contribute to the stress hormone. Should a musky aroma be more to your liking, sandalwood essential oil also soothes the nervous system and promotes grounding. Sandalwood essential oil quiets the mind promoting peace and clarity.

2. ESSENTIAL OILS INVITE CALMNESS

Caregiver utopia is a myth. Yes, caring for a family is a rewarding honor. And the loss of relationships and role reversal is monumental. It is common for family caregivers to experience a loss of control, anger, frustration, and isolation.

The floral aroma of geranium essential oil relaxes nervousness and restores calmness. With a sweet, uplifting floral tone, geranium essential oil is esteemed to reduce physical and mental stress while promoting relaxation and a feeling of well-being. Reputed for its soothing benefits, chamomile essential oil is sure to promote relaxation. As a mood stabilizer, the components of this essential oil may enhance a feeling of calmness and rejuvenation.

3. ESSENTIAL OILS INVIGORATE ENERGY

The overwhelming demands of caregiving often leave caregivers feeling depleted, fatigued, and overwhelmed. The mental load, physical demands, emotional strain of juggling multiple roles and responsibilities diminishes energy.

One of the most versatile of essential oils, peppermint essential oil boosts a myriad of therapeutic benefits. In aromatherapy, peppermint essential oil may reduce feelings associated with tension and irritability, boost energy, and sharpen mental focus. Known as liquid sunshine, lemon essential oil is cherished for its mood enhancing qualities. Lemon essential oil is reputed to perk the spirit enhancing the feeling of energy and exuberance.

4. ESSENTIAL OILS CAN IMPROVE WELL-BEING

The physical, mental, and emotional strain associated with caregiving poses the risk of increased health issues for the caregiver. Studies indicate caregivers have lower levels of subjective well-being and physical health than non-caregivers. 

Extracted from the rind of the bitter orange tree, bergamot essential oil restores emotional balance and overall well-being. In aromatherapy, bergamot essential oil uplifts and refreshes the spirit potentially reducing the symptoms of depression. In aromatherapy, rosemary essential oil is acclaimed to increase mental activity, stimulate clarity and insight, and reduce fatigue. This oil improves alertness, diminishes negative moods, and enhances concentration.

5. ESSENTIAL OILS CAN IMPROVE SLEEP

Sleep deprivation is an issue for family caregivers. Sleep deprivation can stem from financial instability, time management, concern for a loved one, or managing the wake/sleep cycle of a loved one. Revered as the “Oil of Tranquility,” vetiver essential oil soothes anxiety and insomnia. The naturally occurring sedative properties of vetiver essential oil reduce restlessness and elicit a sense of serenity. Serving a dual purpose, the natural chemical properties of clary sage essential oil promote restful sleep while also uplifting the mood boosting mental clarity and self-esteem. In aromatherapy, the sedative properties of clary sage essential oil have sedative abilities that imbue feelings of relaxation, clarity, and calmness while alleviating dizziness, anxiety, and irritability.

How to Use Aromatherapy

There are so many different avenues for applying essential oils, you just have to choose the format that suits you best. Many people use diffusers, incorporate oils into a bubble bath, make or buy room sprays, infuse bathing salts with essential oils, incorporate lotions or creams, or use in a massage oil.

Please note that most essential oils are not intended to be used directly on the skin. Due to their high concentration content, dilute essential oils in a carrier oil such as jojoba oil or use in a diffuser. A skin patch test is recommended. Aromatherapy and the use of essential oils are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before use.

The numerous therapeutic benefits of aromatherapy are a selfcare resource to nourish your soul and your skin. Add this wellness practice to your daily practice and reap its powerful, rejuvenating properties!

Karen Leeman

Founder of Caregiver2Caregiver and Resonate Skincare

Nourish your soul, nourish your skin

——

This series of Wellness Wealth explores various modalities of health for unpaid caregivers. Your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are immensely important and yet overwhelmingly overlooked due to the enormous demands placed on you while caring for your loved one. The Wellness Wealth series explores avenues of self-care that require minimal time, effort, and expense while offering tremendous stress-reducing results.