Essential Oil 15ml

Description

Essential oils are highly concentrated plant extracts distilled into oil. Popular in complementary and alternative medicine, these oils, derived from flowers, leaves, roots, and other parts of plants, have been used for medicinal purposes in some cultures for centuries.

Uses
Essential oils are often used to ease stress, boost mood, relieve pain from headaches and migraines, get a better night’s sleep, quell nausea, and even repel insects. Most essential oils have antiseptic properties as well.

The beneficial compounds in oils often are delivered in three ways—inhalation, topical application to the skin, and oral ingestion.

Inhalation
Essential oils typically are extracted using steam distillation, a process that involves applying steam to a plant until only oil remains. Essential oils contain volatile compounds, which make up the strong characteristic scent of a plant and give them their therapeutic effects.

In aromatherapy, these volatile compounds are inhaled using either a drop of oil on a piece of cloth, jewelry, or other item, or diffused into the air with an aromatherapy diffuser. Inhalation is the safest method for using essential oils.

When inhaled, molecules in essential oils are believed to influence the nervous system and the limbic area of the brain, as well as hormones, brain chemicals, and metabolism.

Topical
Essential oils sometimes are applied directly to the skin to treat pain in a specific body part—to relieve backache, for example, or to ease sore muscles, or to relieve sinus pain—and some may be used topically for their antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, such as for acne or fungal infections.

However, many essential oils can be irritating and so should not be applied full-strength to the skin but rather diluted in a carrier oil (such as almond, apricot kernel, or avocado oil) first