Most people experience anxiety and stress, pain, and even insomnia due to our hectic schedules in work and personal life. While most people tend to rely on pills to help manage the anxiety or stress they’re feeling, some people wish to take the alternative route.

This prompted some people to discover the wonders of alternative medicine and experiment the benefits of essential oils. Can the usage of essential oils help ease your anxiety? Here’s what the experts have to say.

The Study

According to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, sniffing a compound called linalool in essential oils like lavender acts as an anti-anxiety drug. However, the compound didn’t emit any impairing movement or side effects the way prescribed medicines like Valium can.

Aside from that, Linalool can affect the brain through its smell alone. Furthermore, the compound won’t be absorbed into the bloodstream, which makes it an ideal option for people worried about the side effects of taking medicines. Despite the study’s astounding results, the study was only conducted on mice as of this writing.

Most alternative medicine practitioners use essential oils and aromatherapy to treat physical and mental health problems like anxiety, depression, stress, and sleep problems.

The scientists couldn’t determine yet if the same results will be shown to humans. So far, the previous studies have mixed results when the researchers tested the effects of essential oils to treat anxiety in humans.

According to a study published in Holistic Nursing Practice, the researchers found the usage of lavender or rosemary essential oils helped reduced the stress levels and pulse rates of graduating nursing students before taking their exams. Nevertheless, the health experts recommend these best essential oils to help ease your anxiety.

Lavender Essential Oil

This essential oil is known to relax and ease the tension in your body, thus, easing your anxiety away.

According to Eugene Lee, MD, Lavender helps in clearing your mind from your racing thoughts while producing a calm and relaxing effect on your body, making it a good remedy to treat anxiety or insomnia. You can look for a product that contains a distilled oil straight from the flowers of the Lavandula angustifolia plant.

Rosemary Essential Oil

Rosemary helps clear your mind while organizing your thoughts so you can focus better on working at the task at hand. It also helps ease the anxiety for women in labor, people undergoing chemotherapy, and other stressful situations you might be in. According to a separate study, the energizing and stimulating scent of rosemary essential oil improves your cognitive function while decreasing your stress hormones.

Sweet Orange Essential Oil

This fruit essential oil is extracted from the orange fruit peel itself, and it’s known to improve the post-traumatic stress disorder conducted in mice. The additional study published in the Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research suggests that pregnant women who used orange essential oil were less anxious when undergoing labor compared to those exposed to distilled water.

Bergamot essential oil

According to a study published in Forschende Komplementärmedizin, also known as Research in Complementary Medicine, the researchers found that those people who inhaled bergamot oil have lower stress levels, reduced fatigue, and enhanced mood compared to those who are not.

Chamomile essential oil

You can use chamomile essential oil before you go to bed to have a long, uninterrupted, restful sleep.

According to a study published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine in 2015, the chamomile oil has anti-anxiety and stress relieving properties which are vital to ease out anxiety, depression, and calm your overactive mind. It can also help in treating insomnia. You only need to inhale it or mix it with water as you take a bath before going to bed. It can help relax your mind and body as it lulls you to a deep and peaceful sleep.

A Combination of Diffuser and Humidifier

If you are suffering from insomnia due to your anxiety, you can use any of the essential oils above before bedtime. Dr. Lee also advises using a combination of diffuser anf humidifier to help add moisture to the air. The added moisture helps improve your sleep quality, especially in seasons where the air is dry.