Understanding the Health Benefits of Essential Oils

Humans have made huge advancements in all aspects of life and living including health care. It however appears that in the past few years, we have gotten to this point where we are now seriously assessing and scrutinizing our various achievements. People are asking more questions and looking for answers.

There has been growing concern about the effects of the drugs we take for various ailments. People are no longer comfortable with the fact that practically every drug is said to have a side effect. You can read from experts here: https://www.drugs.com/article/drug-side-effects.html.

These and other concerns have pushed a lot of people into looking back at natural options for treating and managing health conditions. One of the things that a lot of people are beginning to incorporate into their daily lives is the use of essential oils and that will be our focus in this article.

What are Essential Oils?
Also known as ethereal oils, volatile oils, and aetherolea, essential oils describe certain plant extracts that consist of highly concentrated liquids that contain very volatile compounds. These compounds are described as volatile because they can evaporate even at normal room temperatures.

They are also described as essential because they are classified as possessing the essence of the fragrance of their source plants. You will find these oils used mainly in aromatherapy, which is an alternative medicine in which treatment of ailments and other conditions are pursued using compounds with aromatic properties. You will also find them used a lot in bath houses, spas and other such relaxation centers because of their touted power of relaxation.

Examples of Essential Oils
There are quite a number of these oils extracted from various plants. We will however just look at a few examples. Note that their names are usually reflective of the plant from which they are derived so we shall only list the plant names.

Agar – Gotten from agarwood and famous for its use as fragrance.

Asafoetida – This is gotten from several Ferula species and used mainly for food flavoring.

Basil – Commonly used for aromatherapy as well as fragrance.

Birch – Mainly used for aromatherapy.

Carrot – Most commonly put to aroma-therapeutic uses.

Cinammon – This is more used as food flavoring.

Cedar – This is used mostly in the fragrance industry.

Davana – An important ingredient for perfumes.

Eucalyptus – This can be used as an antiseptic.

Fenugreek – You will find this mostly in the cosmetic industry.

Ginger – This has proven medicinal uses.

Jasmine – It is popular for its fragrance.

There are a whole lot more of these essential oils than those listed here. Practically every plant can yield its own essential compound.

Benefits of these Essential Oils

From our list above, we can see that some of these oils have specific uses linked to them while some have multiple uses. We can therefore conclude that the benefits that any of these will offer will largely be dependent on the plant from which it was sourced.

Since we may not have the luxury of listing all the plants and the different benefits that each one offers, we will simply address the issue on a general basis. Below are some benefits that we can enjoy from the use of these oils.

Relaxation and Sleep
This is one of the known benefits of aromatherapy. These products can be used to relax the body and encourage sleep in a number of ways. They can be added to baths and they can also be applied on certain areas of the body that may have been identified as emotional trigger locations. Once you can achieve relaxation, sleep will come more easily. 

 
Mood and Atmosphere Conditioning
The fragrance some of these plant essence have a powerful effect on the brain. When released into the environment, some of them can improve the mood of the inhaler, resulting in increased positive energy all around. 

 
Relief from Inflammation
Thyme, tea tree, eucalyptus and a couple of other plants yield compounds that can treat various cases of inflammation. These include those on the skin, digestive system, respiratory system, scalp and others. 

 
Pain Relief
In aromatherapy, the essence derived from ginger, frankincense, myrrh, chamomile, peppermint, helichrysum, lavender, rosemary and many others are known to provide relief from various kinds of pain. These are either applied topically to the affected areas of taken orally. 

 
Boosting of the Immune System
Another interesting benefit we can enjoy is disease prevention. This is because of the antibacterial and anti-fungal properties that some of these plants possess. They are also able to help strengthen the immune system, further preventing illness.

Skin Care
Healing of skin issues and clearing of inflammations in the skin is one benefit that has made aromatherapy popular with many people. The skin quickly absorbs the compound and they immediately get to work healing damaged tissues.

To check out other applications and benefits of these essential oils, click here. 

Conclusion
Like we stated at the beginning of this article, people are actively searching for natural or alternative means of health care that will not have the medically accepted side-effects that most orthodox medication appears to have. Thankfully, we have alternatives we can explore.

With hundreds of different essential oils with different capabilities now available to us, we should take advantage of them to the fullest. These are natural products that have zero side effects. It’s obviously time to go back to nature.