What Are Essential Oils and How Can They Benefit You?

humidifiers with essential oils

Throughout history, medical science has presented many concoctions for us to consume.  Not all have been helpful, and some have been outright dangerous, but one field that takes direct inspiration from medicine is alternative medicine.

Alternative medicine is as valuable as conventional medicine.  It is simply a form of medicine that involves using organic and natural materials instead of artificial ones.  By harvesting certain plants and combining them with a mortar and pestle, you can create amazing concoctions that exhibit a variety of health benefits.  Some refer to these concoctions as essential oils, sweet-smelling liquids that can make us feel good and help us get over illnesses.

No discussion of essential oils is complete without an initial outline of humidifiers with essential oils.  Necessitating only about a gallon of water, humidifiers can spread mist throughout your home or living space.  Primarily, this mist consists of water, but some humidifiers will allow you to infuse essential oils into the humid air.  While you cannot simply pour essential oils into the same receptacle as the water, there may be a separate tray into which you may place a few drops of essential oil.  Automatically, the humidifier will disperse that oil throughout the water so that every burst of mist that is emitted every few hours will smell like the essential oil.  When you fill the essential oil tray with any liquid, the bottom line must be that the vapor can be safely ingested and inhaled by humans, so do not simply put in anything that smells good.  Cleaning solution and essential oils that you should not ingest are no good.

Not all humidifiers have this feature, but if you purchase one such humidifier, pouring essential oil into your humidifier might be as calming and valuable to you as a warm cup of tea, so if you are into essential oils, then you may be about to take a profound interest in a humidifier.  Without further ado, let us talk a bit more about the myriad benefits and uses of essential oils.

What Are The Primary Benefits?

As essential oils become more common among those who are interested in alternative medicine and doctors alike, people have noticed the many benefits of these oils, in particular mood boosts, better sleep, reduced nausea, reduced inflammation, and relieved headaches.  If nothing else, many essential oils smell good enough for their scents to be the whole purpose of using them.  Here are more specific examples of the different types of oils and what their most common benefits are.

Frankincense Oil

Primarily, this oil will boost your mood and help you fall asleep, reducing inflammation in the process.  By the way, inflammation is common.  It can erupt from something as mundane as alcohol consumption, so if you are a big drinker or you have a form of arthritis, then you may enjoy frankincense oil.  Its pleasant scent is one of wood and spice.  Some skin creams include this oil, as it moisturizes and exfoliates skin, but if you have frankincense oil exclusively, be sure to dilute it with water before application.  Otherwise, it might irritate your skin.  Capable of preventing gum disease and minimizing the effects of asthma, frankincense oil is good for your respiratory health as well as your dermatological health.

Rosemary Oil

If you are into Italian cuisine, then you probably enjoy the taste and smell of rosemary, but rosemary’s benefits go beyond great taste.  To extract oil from rosemary is to develop a concoction that improves memory, helps with balding, alleviates physical as well as emotional stress, boosting mood, and reducing inflammation among joints.  Similar to frankincense oil, you may disseminate it throughout the air with a humidifier or apply it to the skin, as long as the solution is diluted enough.

Cedarwood Oil

Perhaps the best smelling oil on Earth, cedarwood oil has a variety of health benefits, too.  Its antibacterial and antioxidant properties will allow you to have a fresh and clean home.  In fact, it is a popular ingredient in every toiletry from commercial bug spray to deodorant.  As a bonus, cedarwood oil also has a calming effect, reducing sleep problems and anxiety, social or otherwise.

Orange Oil

Like most, you may be a big believer in citrus.  If you love oranges, then get ready for orange oil, its cool cousin with many health benefits.  Coming from the rind of oranges, this oil is perfect for diffusing into the air via a humidifier.  It serves as a natural cleaner for your home that is as potent as commercial cleaning solutions.  You are free to compare orange oil to cleaning solutions, but the point is that you can use the former in a pinch.  This oil kills bacteria, reduces pain, and mitigates anxiety.