Smell Your Way to Good Health

Aromatherapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine that is once again gaining in popularity. Aromatherapy uses concentrated liquids, known as essential oils, extracted from various plants to heal a person’s body and mind.

The theory is that, by taking the vapor from these essential oils into your lungs, the components in the oils enter the bloodstream and the brain, healing your body from inside. While the medical community is still studying aromatherapy, the health benefits of these essential oils are no secret. Compounds of many of these plants have long been used in, or as a compliment to, conventional medicines.

Here’s a look at some of the beneficial effects attributed to just a handful of the most popular essential oils:

Basil – Helps migraines and headaches, clears the mind, improves concentration.

Chamomile – Calms nervousness, helps headaches and migraines.

Cinnamon – Soothes bronchitis and colds, eases depression and feelings of weakness.

Clove – Soothes bronchitis, fights dizziness, eases depression, strengthens memory, Removes lethargy.

Eucalyptus – frequent sneezing, hay fever, flu, respiratory problems, as an insect repellant, helps headaches, improves concentration.

Grapefruit – Helps headaches, mental exhaustion, and depression.

Lavender – Helps with allergies, dizziness, sleeplessness, headaches, depression, anxiety, fear, irritability, nervousness, soothes tight muscles and muscle spasms.

Rosemary – Eases congestion and sinusitis, helps to overcome mental and physical tiredness, stimulates the brain, improves memory and promotes clear thinking.

Sage – Calms the nerves, helps with grief and depression, quickens the senses, improves memory.

Spearmint – Eases nausea, colic, flatulence, headaches, migraines, nervousness, asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis.

Tee Tree Oil – Helps with colds, sinusitis, bronchitis and any other respiratory ailments.

Yarrow – Reduces joint inflammation, relieves cold and flu symptoms.

There are hundreds of other popular essental oils with many different uses. Do a little research Online, or at your local library, to find an oil, or combination of oils, that’s right for you.