Say Goodbye to Holiday Stress with Essential Oils: Three Easy Tips!

The holidays can be stressful for many with traveling, family gatherings and societal expectations to be joyous. It no longer has to be! When you have essential oils in your self-care tool box, holiday stress can be a thing of the past. So carve out some moments for yourself and try these three simple tips!

1. Use a Diffuser: Its pretty simple- the receptors in your nose that control smell communicate with the parts of your brain (hippocampus and amygdala) that hold emotions and memories. We’ve all had an experience where a smell, like a favorite family dish cooking, can trigger a childhood memory. With essential oils we can begin to create new memories and emotional associations with certain smells. If we diffuse lavender and enjoy its calming effects on a regular basis we will start to trigger the feeling of calm the next time we smell lavender. Alternative calming oils to put in your diffuser are vetiver, frankincense and Peace ® .

1. Take a Detox Bath: There’s nothing like a hot bath to wash away holiday stress! Enhance the benefits of a bath by adding Epsom salts and a detoxing essential oil. Epsom salts are naturally occurring pure mineral compounds of magnesium and sulfate. When we are under stress our bodies are drained of magnesium. We can increase our levels of magnesium, which is known to promote a feeling of relaxation, by absorbing the Epsom salts during the bath. The sulfates in the salt help our body to release toxins and decrease stress. Our favorite detox bath recipe is 1 cup of Epsom salts, 1/4 cup of sea salt, 1/4 cup of baking soda and three drops of lemongrass essential oil. Lemongrass is known as the “cleanser of energy” and can be used to remove any negative energy, thought patterns or beliefs you may have. Other great alternative oils to put in your bath are peppermint, ylang ylang and Zendocrine ®.

1. Improve your Sleep: Getting a good night’s sleep will not only decrease stress in your life it will make you better equipped to deal with any unforeseen issues that come up! Adding essential oils to your sleep routine does not need to be complicated. If you have an extra thirty seconds you can change your quality of sleep- it’s that simple! Place a drop of Vetiver oil on the bottom of the feet, which has five layers of skin and no hair follicles making it the most effective part of your body to use oils on. Vetiver is known for its soothing and sedating properties making it ideal for sleep. Other oils that would help with sleep are cedarwood, lavender and roman chamomile.

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