What are the benefits of lavender essential oil?
Lavender essential oil is extracted from the flowers and some parts of the stem of the lavender plant. This essential oil is used as an aromatherapy treatment to enhance health and is also used for beauty purposes. So, what benefits does lavender essential oil have that make it so popular?
1. What is lavender essential oil?
When mentioning lavender, we often think of this flower with its distinctive purple color. However, you may not know that the flowers of this plant, once refined and turned into lavender essential oil, offer numerous wonderful benefits for health and beauty.
Lavender is a perennial shrub with a strong aroma and the scientific name Lavandula. This plant originates from North Africa and the Mediterranean region, but today lavender is found in many places around the world and is cultivated for the production of essential oil and decorative flowers.
2. What are the benefits of lavender essential oil?
Lavender essential oil has many health and beauty benefits, such as:
- Helping to relax, relieve stress, and improve mood
Lavender essential oil helps calm the mind, alleviate stress, and relax the body, making it one of the most notable uses of lavender essential oil.
To use lavender essential oil for relaxation and mood improvement, place 2 to 3 drops of the oil in the palm of your hand, then bring it up to your nose and inhale deeply. The scent will directly impact your olfactory senses and send signals to your brain, helping you stay calm. You can also apply lavender essential oil to your wrists, neck, and other areas to enjoy the fragrance.
Additionally, you can diffuse the essential oil and lie down to relax, reducing stress and fatigue.
- Lavender essential oil helps improve sleep quality
Most aromatic essential oils can be used in aromatherapy to enhance sleep quality. Lavender essential oil is particularly effective in improving sleep, helping you sleep better every night. If you are experiencing sleep issues, lavender essential oil is a great option to help you relax, feel comfortable, reduce stress, and sleep better.
How to use: You can use diffusers to spread the essential oil in your bedroom or apply it directly to areas you can smell, such as on your clothes, neck, temples, and even on your blanket or pillow.
- Pain and inflammation relief
Many people use pure lavender essential oil to apply directly to wounds from injuries such as sprains, open wounds, bruises, bee stings, insect bites, as well as for toothache, nerve pain, and headaches, achieving pain relief.
Applying lavender essential oil directly to open wounds or bee stings helps reduce swelling, speed up wound healing, and alleviate pain.
For nerve pain or headaches, you can massage the essential oil onto the painful area, which helps reduce pain while providing relaxation and stress relief caused by pain or work pressure.
- Repelling insects like mosquitoes
In addition to directly applying lavender essential oil to reduce swelling from mosquito bites, the oil can also keep mosquitoes away from you or your room. You can apply it directly to your skin or clothes when going out to avoid mosquito bites or use a diffuser in your room to repel mosquitoes.
- Improving some skin and hair issues
Some topical medications contain lavender oil, which is effective in treating alopecia areata and dandruff. Additionally, when applied to the skin, it has positive effects on treating eczema, boils, sunburn, and diaper rash in infants. However, it should not be used on young children as it may negatively affect the development of young boys.
The method of use is to apply it directly to the scalp or affected skin area or mix the essential oil with water for shampooing or bathing.
Some studies suggest that components extracted from lavender essential oil and other essential oils may play a role in cancer prevention and treatment. However, this is still under research and not yet supported by concrete evidence.
3. Some Precautions When Using Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender essential oil can be used quite commonly, but to avoid improper use and potential side effects, you should consider the following:
- Do not ingest lavender essential oil directly as it can be toxic. The only ingestible form is lavender tea, which can still cause side effects such as constipation, headaches, and increased appetite.
- Although it is a herbal remedy, it can cause skin irritation in some individuals when applied topically. Therefore, it is important to test a small amount on your skin first to check for any reactions, especially for those who are prone to skin sensitivities.
- Using products containing lavender essential oil on the skin may not be safe for prepubescent children. This is because the oil can affect hormones in the body and may lead to abnormal breast tissue development in young boys.
- Exercise caution when using it during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.
- If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have allergies, or have other systemic health conditions, you should consult a specialist before using it.
- This oil can enhance the effects of sedatives, so if you are taking sedative medications, be mindful as it can cause excessive drowsiness.
In summary, the effects of lavender essential oil are varied, and depending on the intended use, you may have different ways of using it. Some benefits are not yet clearly proven by research, so use it with caution. Additionally, it can cause some side effects and drug interactions, so be very careful when using it. Therefore, you should research the benefits of lavender essential oil first, and then consider whether to use it.
