Feeling anxious is an unavoidable part of the human experience. In today’s world, there are so many triggers for anxiety. From work stress, family responsibilities, and beyond, sometimes it’s hard to stay stress-free. The use of essential oils in providing relief for our anxiety may seem like a recent innovation, but aromatherapy has been around for centuries for a good reason; it works!
Aromatherapy is defined as the practice of inhaling scents to provide stress relief and other therapeutic benefits. When you breathe in essential oils, they go up through your olfactory nerves in the nose and directly into your brain.
Studies show that they especially affect the parts of your brain that process your emotions. Through aromatherapy, essential oils are proven to be able to positively affect your mood, relieve anxiety, and even improve your sleep quality.
So how can we use essential oils and aromatherapy to relieve our anxiety? Do we need a professional to help us, or can we do it ourselves? Here are some easy ways you can incorporate essential oils into your daily routine to relieve your stress and be on your way to feeling less anxious!
Try Using an Oil Diffuser
Diffusers are a popular item in households today. Not only are they popular because of their trendy and cute designs, but also for being the best way to bring aromatherapy into your household for your whole family to enjoy.
Studies show that scents are linked to emotional memories and have the ability to impact our mood. Fill your diffuser with water and add in a few drops of your favorite essential oil (or feel free to mix and match scents!) to create a calming atmosphere and help everyone in your home feel less anxious. The purity of the essential oil means they are potent, so less is more when diffusing.
Which scents and oils should you use? Popular anxiety-relieving choices are lavender (especially at night time) and lemongrass. Eucalyptus is fantastic for a boost of good energy in the day, and peppermint always makes a good addition to any stress-relieving blend.
Diffuser Jewelry
Diffuse on the go! Jewelry with special beads, like lava rocks, can hold in essential oils and release them slowly throughout the day. You’ll be able to bask in your own personal aromatherapy bubble all day long!
Car Diffusers
There are so many types of diffusers available on the market today, even portable and car-friendly ones! Place a car diffuser over your air vent with your favorite blend of essential oils that boost your mood and never feel road rage again (well, maybe not never again)!
Roll It On
Due to their purity, essential oils don’t just sit on top of your skin the way some lotions might. They can be absorbed into your skin and muscles. So when you dab on, soak in, or roll-on essential oils onto your skin, you’re getting more than just the aromatherapy benefits from smelling them. You’re also getting the benefits from absorbing them into your muscles and bloodstream. The best places where the oils can be absorbed are the wrists, neck, temples, and bottom of your feet.
Soak It In
Baths are already good for de-stressing. The negative ions in the running water help to combat the positive ions that are in the air around us in toxins and pollution. Add some calming essential oils into your bath like lavender and eucalyptus, and you’ve got a one-way ticket to anxiety relief! Get both the benefits from aromatherapy and from absorbing the relaxing oils into your muscles when you add them into your bath.
Bath Bombs
Two words: bath bombs. Bath bombs are probably the most fun way to relieve your anxiety with your favorite essential oils! A bath bomb is a dissolvable ball, usually in bright colors, packed with skin-loving ingredients and essential oils. The “bomb” dissolves quickly and releases the scents and other nutrients into the bathwater for a super relaxing experience—plus, it’s just so cool to watch!
If you don’t have any bath bombs on hand, you can just add a couple of essential oil drops into your regular bath and take a big inhale of your favorite anxiety-relieving scents. Either way, you’ll get the oils absorbed into your skin and fill the air with soothing smells. If you’re adding your own drops of oil to your bath, remember that you don’t need too much. Five to eight drops should do the trick.
Soaps
The fun doesn’t have to be reserved for the bath. Showers can provide anxiety relief too! Use a soap that’s full of your favorite essential oils to get a quick and lathery aromatherapy session when you’re short on time. If you like to take your showers in the morning, use soap with lemongrass, eucalyptus, or peppermint essential oils for an energizing and anxiety-relieving boost.
Body Scrubs
Using a body scrub packed with essential oils is a fantastic way to multitask. You get to take a big inhale of the stress-relieving smells, and you get the exfoliation your skin needs. Incorporate a body scrub with natural ingredients and your favorite essential oils into your regular shower routine for a quick and efficient way to de-stress and get glowing skin.
Tips for Daily Anxiety Relief With Essential Oils
Now that you know how to use essential oils and why they are so vital in relieving anxiety, let’s discuss tips for practical use in everyday life. The first step is finding your favorites. Energizing citruses, relaxing lavender, invigorating mints like wintergreen or peppermint, and spa-vibes like eucalyptus are among the favorites of most people seeking stress relief. Once you’ve got your favorites, here are a couple of tips to use them easily in your daily routine.
Think About Where You Spend the Most Time
It may be hard to decide where you should put your diffuser and how many you may need. Think about where you spend the most stressful parts of your day. Is it the kitchen? Maybe the home office? Or even your car? Once you think about where you’re at when you typically experience the most anxiety, you can plan which diffusers you’ll need.
Set a Timer
A smart timer on your diffuser can help you keep some zen in your schedule. All you have to do is be sure to keep it filled with water and your favorite oils. Set the timer for the morning if you want to wake up and immediately create a soothing atmosphere or set it for nighttime if you have trouble falling asleep due to anxiety.
Cute Storage Is a Game-Changer
Essential oils can bring you relief and happiness. Try storing your rollers and oils in an acrylic nail polish organizer and your bath bombs in a large acrylic jar by the tub. You’ll get a burst of joy every time you walk by this aesthetically pleasing sight, and your brain will associate it with the feelings of anxiety relief that those oils bring you. Clear storage also makes for an easy reminder that they’re there and waiting to be used!
Pack Your Purse
Pre-made rollers are so easy to travel with. Buy one for your purse and one for your nightstand so you can always have it nearby! You can even pack the oil in your bag and just twist the cap off for a quick big inhale whenever you’re on the road and feeling anxious.
Essential Relief
To summarize, anxiety is a common result of the demands of today's world. Aromatherapy is a natural and quick way to experience relief. Essential oils are able to help and have been proven to truly have therapeutic benefits on our muscles and brain. There are tons of options for how to use them in your everyday routines. Anxiety presents differently for different people. Some cases are milder, and some are extreme. While we always recommend reaching out to your doctor to help mitigate more difficult cases, essential oils can help improve the arsenal you use to fight your anxiety.
Head to Bubbly Belle to find the scents and essential oils that speak to you and bring you the most relief! Then, you can start to add them to your bath products, diffusers, and portable rollers. You’ll be on the path to feeling less stressed and less anxious in no time!
Sources
Aromatherapy: Do Essential Oils Really Work? | Hopkins Medicine
Essential oil of lavender in anxiety disorders: Ready for prime time? | NCBI