Maintaining a strong and healthy immune system is of utmost importance in today’s fast-paced world. While a balanced diet, regular exercise, and adequate sleep play a crucial role, nature offers us a range of solutions to support our immune system. Among them, essential oils have gained significant popularity for their potential immune-boosting properties. In this article, we will study the world of immune-boosting essential oils, their benefits, and how they can be incorporated into our daily routines to enhance our overall well-being.
What Are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are highly concentrated plant extracts derived from various parts of aromatic plants, including leaves, flowers, bark, and roots. These oils contain the natural compounds responsible for the plant’s characteristic fragrance and often possess therapeutic properties. When used correctly, essential oils can offer a range of health benefits, including immune support.
Immune-Boosting Essential Oils
- Eucalyptus Oil: Eucalyptus oil is renowned for its potent antimicrobial properties. It helps to clear congestion in the respiratory system, making it an excellent choice for alleviating symptoms of colds and flu. Its invigorating scent can also provide a refreshing boost to the mind and body.
- Tea Tree Oil: Tea tree oil possesses powerful antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. It can help combat various pathogens, including bacteria and viruses. When used topically, tea tree oil can assist in soothing skin irritations and blemishes, thereby supporting the body’s natural defence system.
- Lemon Oil: Lemon oil is known for its high vitamin C content, which is vital for a healthy immune system. It possesses antioxidant properties and helps to detoxify the body. Additionally, lemon oil can uplift the mood and provide a refreshing aroma.
- Peppermint Oil: Peppermint oil contains menthol, which acts as a decongestant and expectorant, effectively clearing the respiratory system. It also has antimicrobial properties and can support digestive health. Peppermint oil’s cooling sensation can provide relief during times of discomfort.
- Lavender Oil: Lavender oil, extracted from lavender flowers, is renowned for its calming and soothing properties. While primarily associated with relaxation, lavender oil also supports immune health. It possesses antimicrobial properties, helping to combat various pathogens. Additionally, its stress-reducing effects contribute indirectly to immune support, as chronic stress can weaken the immune system.
- Frankincense Oil: Frankincense oil has been utilized for centuries for its immune-boosting properties. It helps strengthen the immune response, reduces inflammation, and promotes overall wellness. Additionally, its calming aroma aids in relaxation and stress relief, which indirectly contributes to a healthy immune system.
Incorporating Essential Oils into Daily Routine
Now that we have explored some immune-boosting essential oils let’s discuss how to incorporate them into our daily routines:
- Diffusion: An essential oil diffuser disperses the aromatic molecules into the air. This allows you to inhale the beneficial properties of the oils. Diffusing essential oils like eucalyptus, tea tree, or lemon oil can help purify the air and support respiratory health.
- Topical Application: Dilute essential oils with a carrier oil, such as coconut and apply them to the skin. This method is suitable for targeted benefits or relief from muscle tension. Before applying any essential oil topically, performing a patch test and following proper dilution guidelines is essential.
- Inhalation: Add a few drops of essential oil to a bowl of steaming water, shield your head with a towel, and inhale the steam. This method is especially useful for respiratory concerns, relieving and supporting clear breathing.
- Bathing: Incorporate essential oils into your bath by adding a few drops of warm water. The steam from the bath will help disperse the aroma, allowing you to relax while absorbing the therapeutic properties through your skin.
- Massage: Incorporate a few drops of essential oil with a carrier oil and use it for a relaxing massage. This technique allows the oils to be absorbed by the skin. It promotes relaxation and stress reduction, indirectly supporting the immune system.
Safety Considerations
While essential oils can offer numerous benefits, it is essential to prioritize safety:
Quality and Purity
When it comes to essential oils, quality and purity are important. Due to the increasing demand for these oils, sourcing them from reputed suppliers who attach to strict quality control measures is crucial. Look for oils certified as organic, pure, and sourced from plants grown without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Ensuring high-quality oils reduces the risk of contamination. It ensures you get the full benefits of the plant’s active compounds.
Dilution and Proper Usage
Essential oils are highly concentrated essences and should only be used undiluted on the skin or ingested with proper guidance. Dilution is essential to avoid skin irritations, sensitization, or adverse reactionsThe recommended dilution ratio is typically 2-3 drops of essential oil per teaspoon of carrier oil for adults. Still, it may vary depending on the oil and the individual’s sensitivity. Additionally, essential oils should not be consumed without the advice of a skilled aromatherapist or healthcare professional.
Patch Testing
Before applying any essential oil topically, it is crucial to conduct a patch test. This involves applying a diluted essential oil solution to a small skin area and monitoring for any adverse reactions. Before extensively using the oil, this test helps identify potential allergies, sensitivities, or skin irritations. Patch testing is especially necessary if you have sensitive skin or a record of allergies.
Photosensitivity
Certain essential oils, such as citrus (e.g., lemon, lime, bergamot), contain compounds that can increase skin sensitivity to sunlight. This phenomenon is known as photosensitivity and can lead to sunburn or skin discoloration when exposed to UV radiation. It is suggested to avoid direct sunlight or tanning beds for at least 12 to 24 hours after using photosensitive oils topically. Alternatively, you can choose to use these oils at night or in areas of the body that are not exposed to the sun.
Pregnancy and Children
Certain warnings should be exercised when using essential oils during pregnancy or on children. Some oils can potentially adversely affect hormonal balance or be too strong for the sensitive skin of infants and young children. Expectant mothers should consult with their healthcare provider before using essential oils. Avoiding oils such as clary sage, rosemary, or peppermint during pregnancy is generally recommended. For children, it is crucial to use child-safe essential oils and follow appropriate dilution ratios and guidelines specific to their age.
Sensitization and Allergies
Although essential oils are generally considered safe, some individuals may develop sensitivities or allergies to specific oils. If you undergo any adverse reactions, such as skin redness, itching, or respiratory symptoms after using an essential oil, discontinue use immediately. It is advisable to consult a healthcare professional if the symptoms persist or worsen.
Interactions with Medications
It is essential to consider potential interactions between essential oils and medications. Some essential oils may hamper certain medications’ absorption, metabolism, or effectiveness. If you are taking any prescription medications or have underlying health conditions, consult with a healthcare professional or a qualified aromatherapist before using essential oils to ensure they are safe for you.
Incorporating immune-boosting essential oils into our daily routines can be a natural and useful way to support our immune systems. The potent properties of oils like eucalyptus, tea tree, lemon, peppermint, and frankincense can contribute to overall wellness while offering a range of other health benefits. Remember to use essential oils safely and responsibly, following proper dilution and seeking professional guidance when necessary. By harnessing the energy of nature, we can enhance our immune systems and strive for a healthier, more balanced life.
NourishDoc: Hello, everyone. Aromatherapy. I love. At the same time, we will talk about how aromatherapy can help us with hormone and immune health. To talk about this, we have Adora. Adora is a plant and vibrational medicine expert as well as an aromatherapist. I am so delighted to introduce all of you to Adora. Thank you so much for coming and being with us today.
Aromatherapist Adora: It is such my pleasure, Amita. Delightful to be here with you and your community.
Use in aromatherapy
NourishDoc: Thank you. So, let’s start with it’s such a huge topic, a hormone, and immune health. We’ll try to cover as much as possible in the next ten to 15 minutes, and I’ll let you start.
Aromatherapist Adora: Great. So, I’d like to start with an overarching intention and a glimpse. Because there is so much curiosity. There’s so much interest in essential oils and aromatherapy. There’s also much confusion and misrepresentation. So the first thing that I’d like to start by saying is that essential oils are what we use in aromatherapy, right?
Aromatherapy is the art and science of using essential oils produced and distilled from aromatic plants to address some layer of our existence. Something from a new physiological perspective, mental, emotional, and spiritual. So, it is truly holistic medicine, and essential oils are the most potent form of plant medicine. So, with that said, where do they come from, right? So, we’ve heard about lavender. Lavender is very commonly spoken about. You can go to almost any grocery store and find a product that says it’s made with pure lavender oil.
Lavender is produced from the plant’s flowers, and about a hundred and fifty pounds of lavender flowers make approximately one pound of the essential oil. Within each drop of that oil, the entire plant’s quintessence, life force, and biochemical activity are held, right? And some of the main constituents from a chemical perspective within lavender are linalool and linalool acetate. Those two chemical components blend the effect of lavender as we know it, right? Calming, relaxing, they lend that nervine effect, right?
Calming and balancing to the nervous system, so when we think about plans from an overarching perspective, they are a wonderful tool to work as an adaptogen, right? To help us balance many layers and levels of stress from an exterior, environmental, and internal perspective that we are challenged with daily. So just as an idea of the magnitude of this relationship in conjunction with Mother Earth because these plants are grown worldwide. It takes a mass quantity of essential oil to produce a very small amount of mass quad quantity of plants if you produce a minute amount of the essential oil.
So this is paramount when we’re considering what is going to be most effective for me to use the essential oil, whether it’s for immunity, whether it’s for hormonal balance, whether it is to modulate my emotional response to anxiousness or depressive tendencies, and how can I ensure that what I’m purchasing is pure essential oil. So these are all such an important part of the conversation before we even say, ” Well, this essential oil is good for that.”
So from that perspective, when you are searching out an essential oil to use in your home life for personal care for your family, you want to make sure that you have a relationship with your supplier because imagine this, there are only so many plants that are grown each year and the demand for essential oils, especially after the past two years with COVID continues to rise because there is greater recognition of the medicinal physiological benefits of using essential oils as well as the psycho-spiritual, right?
Modulating our stress response building, strengthening our immunity, and balancing hormones and the many moods and emotional responses we have from moment to moment in life. right now and ultimately always. So, I always like to preface the conversation from that perspective because it’s an important seed to plant in our psyches, right? To start to understand and be curious about the many gradations of quality essential oils out there and purity because there’s only so much produced yearly. think about the point where the plant material is grown and distilled.
Suppose you don’t have a relationship at those core levels. There are many points from that moment to where it becomes a product at your local boutique, health food vendor, or retailer. The adulteration process is an enormous multi-million, if not a billion-dollar, industry in its regard. So, that is a very important caveat to consider. Of course, when we think about supporting our immune response, right? Essential oils that are immunostimulant. We think of aromatics like lemon; lemon comes from the peel. The lemon oil comes from an expeller pressing the peel.
So, in particular, it’s imperative to get an organic oil with any of the citrus oils because where does the pesticide go on all of our citrus fruits? It goes right onto the peel, right? And the peel is where the aromatic comes from. So, again, when we start to look at people’s experiences with essential oils, we have to very clearly qualify the level of purity that somebody is working in, working with to be able to understand what their experience is.
So, the lemon essential oil is wonderful. I use it in all of my immune-supportive formulas. I have a wonderful Immune stimulating recipe DIY blog on Adora Windquist.com. For those of you that like to make your own medicine because there is nothing more empowering than creating your own medicine for yourself and your family and being able to infuse it with your intention for wholeness and vibrancy. So, a lemon essential oil is always included in my immune formulas. Rosemary is also a wonderful essential oil to help stimulate our immune system and tea tree.
However, I like to use Naoli, a cousin of the tea tree. So, I use that more often than not for my immune formulas. I think there is a bit of a greater potency regarding the antibacterial and antiviral nature. Now, when considering aromatics from that antiviral and antibacterial, really potent medicine, cinnamon, cassia, and clove are always go-to. So, I recommend to all of your listeners to consider creating your aromatic arsenal, right? You can have various Aromatic allies in your home, at your disposal, to create the medicines and formulas you need for yourself, your family, and your loved ones.
So, because medicine is something we will always need on every level of our being, right? Think of from the moment that we wake up to the moment that we go to sleep, how many different experiences we have, how many different emotional responses we have, and this is where essential oils can have an immediate effect within not only mindset but also the nervous system because of the profound connection between the sense of smell and the brain but specifically the amygdala and the limbic system.
So when we inhale the right essential oil or the right essential oils in the right formulation, we cannot only shift how we feel in the moment, but with habitual use, we can learn how to shift the trajectory of our emotional response, which is an incredibly empowering practice to be able to have at our fingertips. So, I can’t recommend that enough, and then, in addition to that, if we’re looking for hormonal balance. We know that as women, we are all searching for that at the different varying phases of our life.
Geranium is one of my go-to essential oils. It was a go-to oil for me in my early 20s when I had endometriosis, and it suffered greatly with pain. I had several surgeries, and my doctor wanted to do a hysterectomy when I was 21. I knew I was supposed to have two children. So, I went into a deeper study and practice of taking responsibility for my own healthcare, working with these aromatics, and working with vibrational medicine and many other aspects of alternative medicine. So, it was incredibly helpful to heal that process because I did end up having two girls who are now 12 and eight years old.
Even now, at this stage of my life with menopause, it is a core aromatic that I work with. From a psycho-spiritual perspective, it draws us into deeper cohesion with the inner wisdom held within us as women. So it is a profound aromatic to use from that holistic perspective. So cypress is a couple of other essential oils I love working with from a hormonal balancing perspective. Cypress is a wonderful oil. It’s very fresh, very expensive, and very uplifting. I don’t know if you’ve come into contact with that before.
However, it helps to balance out, especially symptoms from PMS and or even scanty menstrual cycles. So, the aromatics have a wealth of medicine and intelligence within them to share with us, and one of the things that I always recommend is to educate yourself not only through books; books are a wonderful way. I say that because I’ve also written one, working with plant and Vibrational medicine but more than that to go out and go out and purchase as an essential oil.
Start with maybe three small amounts of lavender from three different companies. You will be amazed by the differences in quality from aromatic and physiological response perspectives. So the more that you are working with the essential oils, the more that you’re building this intimate relationship and your lexicon of benefits, and then you can craft your own unique medicine from the spirit perspective down to the physio or, as I like to say from your soul to your cells.
Essential Oils for Menopause
NourishDoc: I think that’s beautiful. You talked about menopause in between. Maybe all the women out there go through all kinds of symptoms like heart flashes, sweats, and mood swings. So, maybe you could help some women with two or three essential oils they can use at night or during the day.
Aromatherapist Adora: So, my top 3-4 hormonal balances are going to be geranium; the best quality is bourbon, rose, and geranium, and you and find much information on these essential oil profiles and other articles on how to blend your products at home on my blog at Adora Windquist.com. So, geranium, clary sage, and clary sage have been known to lower cortisol levels; it has almost a hypnotic, deep, relaxing, aromatic profile and response and so helpful for insomnia that comes with menopause, the hot flashes, night sweats, those are can be so challenging. I know.
So, I would recommend geranium, clary sage, and also cypress. Those would probably be my top three, although I have also found that for me, Ylang Ylang has been such an ally in menopause because of the mood swings, like getting so frustrated at times, right? And I’m sure some of your other listeners can relate to this, where this anger or frustration seems to come from nowhere as our hormonal levels are peaks and valleys. Ylang-ylang is an incredible aromatic of emotional release and deep feminine connection. It also has aphrodisiac properties.
It’s hypotensive to help us release and balance blood pressure and is a beautiful floral. So, it also makes it a very nice anointing oil for the body. It’s known as the queen of flowers. So, I’m going to go with probably those four essential oils. However, it is not easy to choose because plants offer us healing versatility through their medicine. Of course, as we are called to bring balance back to our beings, we’re called back to nature, right?
We’re called to put down our phones and devices, take off our shoes, walk barefoot, let the sun beam down upon us, and take in all the beautiful visual and aromatic aspects of the plants. But remember that this rich plant kingdom has so much versatility to offer us, right? If we want to balance our minds or clear our thinking, right? Brain fog is a real thing that comes not only with menopause but also with adrenal fatigue. So one wonderful oil for this would be Tulsi which is holy basil.
I fell in love with this oil on my first trip to India because it is aromatic of devotion and used as an offering in temples. So, Tulsi is incredible medicine not just to clear brain fog. It’s great for headaches, blending it. I’ve had wonderful responses, even for migraines. However, to help strengthen the adrenal system, and let’s face it, I would say that over 95% of us as adults are walking around with some degree of adrenal fatigue from the extreme levels of pressure and stress again, internally and externally.
How Essential Oils Can Be Important?
NourishDoc: Well, thank you so much. This is meant to be a quick 10 to the 15-minute session just helping to educate the public on the efficacy of holistic wellness Aromatherapy. There’s so much more to discuss. We just got to, as you said, the quality of the essential oils is more important. Ultimately, consumers need help in understanding what to buy or not to buy. So, that’s a completely different topic in itself. But you have any comments or feedback? Are you welcome to say that?
Aromatherapist Adora: Thank you. Yes. I think knowing your supplier is paramount for not only the benefit of the efficacy but also for supporting this industry to create your products, right? And to honor the beautiful plant medicine that comes from the earth and to do so when we can purchase organic when we can purchase wildcrafted, when we can purchase biodynamic, when we can know our farmers, our suppliers, I think that that is an incredible honoring of the plants. There is a host of information on my blog on how you can go through specific practices to source pure essential oils and then many formulas on how you can make them. So, one of my passions is educating in this field so others can be inspired to go out and build their relationships with plants and medicine.
NourishDoc: Thank you so much. It’s so informational and amazing information. I love essential oils, and I told you earlier as well. Thank you so much, and to everyone, keep supporting us. We are launching our app and also a platform this month. So, stay tuned so as we bring more holistic wellness, affordable and accessible to everyone in the world. With that, namaste.
