Lavender has amazing medicinal properties that you can use by simply flavoring your lemonade with it. It is a wonderful aromatic herb that is known to calm the senses.
Pure lavender oil is a great essential oil that you can use for your own health and wellness. It’s among the gentlest of essential oils, but also one of the most powerful, which makes it a favorite of household items for its healing properties and uses.
Lavender oil has a chemically complex structure with over 150 active constituents, which contribute to its effectiveness at helping with many health ailments. Lavender oil possesses amazing anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, anti-fungal, antibacterial, antiseptic, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, analgesic, detoxifying, hypotensive, and sedative properties.
According to researchers from Florida, the benefits of lavender oil include reducing anxiety and lowering pulse rates in nursing students taking stressful tests. And lavender aromatherapy has been demonstrated to decrease pre-surgery distress in hospital settings, and to be more relaxing than massage or merely resting.
Lavender essential oil also has medicinal properties. It has been shown to reduce depression, improve insomnia and ease labor pains. Some evidence suggests that lavender oil benefits people suffering from headaches, hangovers, sinus congestion and pain relief.
“Much prior research on lavender has focused on the administration of lavender via an olfactory route.
The anxiolytic activity of lavender olfaction has been demonstrated in several small and medium-sized clinical trials. The efficacy of aromatherapy of lavender is thought to be due to the psychological effects of the fragrance combined with physiological effects of volatile oils in the limbic system.
These calming effects of lavender oil and single constituents may be the origin of the traditional use of lavender. Lavender oil olfaction has been shown to decrease anxiety, as measured by the Hamilton rating scale, and can increase mood scores.
The following examples are from clinical trials on lavender aromatherapy:
Dunn and colleagues demonstrated anxiolytic activity of lavender oil aromatherapy in patients in intensive care units. Subjects received at least 1 session of aromatherapy with 1% lavender essential oil. Significant anxiolytic effects were noted in the first treatment, although the second and third treatments did not appear to be as effective.
According to Alaoui-Ismaili and colleagues, the aroma of lavender is considered to be very pleasant and is correlated with changes in the autonomic nervous system.
A study was conducted by Tysoe and colleagues of lavender oil in burner use on staff mood and stress in a hospital setting. A significant number of respondents (85%) believed that lavender aroma improved the work environment following the use of the lavender oil burners.
Diego and colleagues showed that people receiving lavender oil (10%) olfaction for 3 minutes felt significantly more relaxed and had improved mood, decreased anxiety scores and increased scores of alpha power on EEG (an indicator of alertness), and increased speed of mathematical calculations.
Lewith and colleagues investigated the effects of lavender aromatherapy on female patients with depressed mood and anxiety who were being treated with chronic hemodialysis.
The effects of aromatherapy were measured using the Hamilton rating scale for depression (HAMD) and the Hamilton rating scale for anxiety (HAMA). The lavender aroma significantly decreased the mean scores of HAMA, suggesting an effective, noninvasive means for the treatment of anxiety in hemodialysis patients.
Lavender aromatherapy, with or without massage, may also reduce the perception of pain and the need for conventional analgesics in adults and children, although it is necessary to perform more rigorously controlled trials.
A recipe for a Lavender Lemonade with Lavender Essential Oil
Ingredients:
- 1 cup raw honey
- 12 cups pure water
- 1 drop lavender essential oil
- 6 lemons, peeled and juiced
- Lavender sprigs for garnish
Directions
Mix all of the ingredients together and let them chill. You can add more water or raw honey if necessary.
There are other ways that you can use Lavender Oil to cure Anxiety and Headaches:
Add 5 – 6 drops of Lavender essential oil to your bath water if you have dry skin.
Diffuse 10 – 12 drops of Lavender into the air during your workday for natural stress relief.
Add 2 drops of Lavender per ounce to your favorite lightly scented, unrefined organic oil (like almond oil or olive oil) to make body oil with all the benefits of lavender. This will improve your skin texture, relax your mind, ward off insects and help you sleep.
