Anxiety and panic attacks can lead to a sense of desperation. They can be so overwhelming that they cause your body to go into fight or flight mode, which in turn causes your heart rate and blood pressure to rise dramatically. One way of treating this daily is with these 10 best essential oils for anxiety and panic attacks.
Certain calming essential oils are effective at reducing feelings and symptoms like increased heart rate, gasping for breath, shaking hands, and difficulty breathing due to hyperventilation.
In this article, we take a look at certain essential oils that can reduce panic disorders and help you remain unruffled without any harsh side effects like chemical drugs do.
Essential Oils Guide to Health and Non-Toxic Living – In this essential oils guide, we share how to use essential oils for health and non-toxic living. We'll also explore some of the most common essential oils and questions people have.
What are Essential Oils?
The term ‘essential oil' gets its name from the healing essence of the plant being extracted in order to use it for its healing properties.
Essential oils are extracted using steam or distilled using water to extract the essence from the flowers, fruit, roots, stems, and sometimes all parts of a plant. Some essential oils are inhaled to aid healing, relieve stress, promote relaxation, or serve as a mood enhancer.
Essential oils pass instantly through the blood/brain barrier. This is the natural line of defense that protects your brain and nervous system from potential hazards.
Since you are a product of nature, and essential oils are as well, one of two things happens when the blood/brain barrier comes into contact with them.
They are either seen as beneficial to human health, or they are invisible to this defense system. In either case, they pass easily into your nervous system and you experience anxiety relief.
Aromatherapy is a natural way to heal your body without any medications, chemicals, or visits to your doctor.
What is Aromatherapy?
The practice of using certain scents to trigger certain processes in the human body is know as aromatherapy. It uses oils from plant material to harness the power of smell to heal. Smelling essential oils stimulates the limbic system of the brain which is responsible for regulating stress.
Essential oil is highly concentrated so not much is needed for significant benefits.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a state of fear or apprehension in the threat of danger. It's a natural response since it allows your body to prepare itself (through adrenaline) to cope with the danger.
Anxiety disorders can, however, take you over, and then the person is said to be having a panic attack.
Symptoms of Anxiety Include:
- Dry mouth
- Sweaty palms
- Rapid pulse and palpitations
- Breathlessness
- Headaches
- General weakness
- Feeling of tightness in chest
- High blood pressure
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
- Insomnia
- Loss of appetite
What are Panic Attacks?
The clinical definition of a panic attack is when a person experiences recurrent, unexpected, persistent fear that triggers a severe physical reaction.
If you've never experienced a panic attack yourself, it's a process where your emotions take over your mental state. You react, panic and your body compensates with its adrenal system by releasing adrenaline.
Adrenaline
Adrenaline is responsible for muscle tension and increased heart rate. You have a physiological response where your breathing becomes shallow and your body falls into a state of “fight or flight”.
Panic disorders are often unpredictable and come on suddenly. They are typically associated with past trauma. For instance, driving through an intersection where the person was involved in a major car accident.
Panic attacks affect about 6 million Americans and are also twice as common among women as men. typically last about 10 minutes
Why Use Essential Oils to Reduce Anxiety and Panic Attacks?
Using essential oils can calm your nerves. They are a marvelous way to support mental health conditions. Although you can use essential oil for aromatherapy during an attack, it's more helpful to use them prior to an attack.
If you use pure essential oils as a preventative alternative medicine they can help reduce anxiety disorder and provide you a sense of calm throughout your day.
10 Best Essential Oils for Anxiety and Panic Attacks
If you are susceptible to panic attacks, you can inhale calming essential oils. Or dilute the essential with a carrier and oil apply it to pulse points, wrist, neck, and palms of your hands. Then cup your hands together and inhale deeply.
But to get a quick calming effect and natural solution for relieving anxiety, I suggest using a diffuser or humidifier.
The following list of best essential oils is extremely effective alternative medicine solutions to conventional treatment options.
You can use essential oils individually for their separate effects, or for the ultimate effect combine them to help eliminate, control, and calm panic attacks when they happen.
1. Lavender Essential Oil is Powerful for Relieving Anxiety
A powerful essential oil for relieving anxiety, Lavender soothe your mind, and relax your spirit.
Lavender oil can help relieve you from anger, and irritability and keeps you from allowing emotions to flare. Just a few drops of lavender essential oil can help you better deal with emotions.
2. Bergamot Essential Oil is Calming to the Nervous System
Bergamot is known to be both calming and up-lifting. It is ideal to help with panic attacks and anxiety. It is one of the best oils to support the nervous system.
3. Neroli Essential Oil is Known for its Sedative Effects
Neroli oil comes from the flowers of bitter orange trees, a close relative of navel orange. It has a honey-sweet, floral fragrance with an element of citrus. and one of the most widely used for its sedative, anti-spasmodic effects.
4. Lemon Essential Oil is a Natural Stress Reliever
Lemon essential oil will provide you with an uplifting, positive mood. Inhaling lemon oil is known to be a natural stress reliever.
5. Vetiver Essential Oil Promotes a Sense of Well-being
Vetiver essential oil has been used for centuries to promote a sense of well-being. It can help with anxiety, stress, chronic pain relief, muscle spasms, and stiffness.
6. Chamomile Essential Oil Treats Anxiety
Chamomile essential oil is very effective at soothing and calming agitation. If you suffer from panic disorder, Chamomile oil will provide tranquil energy and help with sleep issues.
7. Rosemary Essential Oil Lowers Stress Hormones
Research shows that inhaling essential oils like rosemary can lower cortisol stress hormones in your blood caused by panic or anxiety.
8. Clary Sage Essential Oil is Anti-Anxiety
Clary sage essential oil is anti-anxiety. It has a calming scent and helps you relax and find balance. Clary sage can decrease the physical effects of stress, reduce feelings of dread, and lift you to a better mood
9. Frankincense Helps You Relax
Frankincense essential oil is involved with balancing and relaxing your mind and spirit. The exotic plant is found in Africa as a bush with a beautiful fragrance. It is often recognized from religious stories since it has been used as a soothing plant for centuries. It is deeply relaxing and essential for improving your state and relaxing your body.
10. Ylang Ylang Provides Relief from Panic Attacks
Ylang Ylang essential oil has a calming effect on emotional conditions and can even help to lower blood pressure.
There may be other essential oils that can help you promote relaxation, but these are the 10 best for mental health conditions and panic disorders.
Essential Oil Blends
Essential oils are not just powerful on their own, but when you blend them together they can be even more effective. Just remember to keep all of your essential oil blends labeled and blending supplies such as jars and funnel clean at all times.
How to Use Essential Oils
Essential oils are generally safe. Research suggests they can be used in a variety of different ways to relieve stress and promote relaxation.
Some essential oils and essential oil blends may cause skin irritation, so take care when applying essential oils topically. Always dilute the essential oil with a carrier oil such as sweet almond oil, coconut oil or olive oil.
To use essential oils for anxiety and panic attacks use a diffuser or add a few drops to a soaking tub or hot bath. Most essential oils can be taken internally — ingested as teas, tinctures, or added to edibles. Be sure to obtain food grade essential oils for internal use.
Safety Concerns
Essential oils have powerful healing properties so you should treat them as any other medicine in your home. Keep them out of reach of kids and pets.
Most essential oils require a carrier oil, even lavender essential oil should be diluted with a carrier oil to avoid skin irritation or an allergic reaction .
Be careful with any citrus-based oil if you plan to get sun exposure within 2 hours of using it. Many oils can make your skin sensitive to sunlight and cause changes in skin pigmentation.
Some essential oils come it bottles with dropper tops, but I don't recommend using these because the rubber can break down very easily.
Where to Buy Quality Essential Oils
There are many essential oils available, but the most important factor is quality and cost. If you're going to be using them to heal medical conditions and other symptoms you want them to be 100 percent pure and of the highest grade.
This is why I switched to Simply Earth Essential Oils. One of my Ayurvedic teachers gave me a bottle of their lavender essential oil and I was beyond pleased!
The price cannot be beaten for the level of purity and quality. Simply Earth oils are ethically sourced from small farms and guaranteed to be 100% pure and free of synthetic preservatives, colors, and artificial fragrances.
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