How Essential Oils Can Help Boost Your Immune System

November 1, 2021 | By Angela Maida

Essential oils have become a hot topic in the world of holistic medicine. While some have praised it for being useful for a wide range of medicinal purposes, others have scorned it for trying to take the place of conventional medication.

Regardless of whether essential oils can help treat medical conditions, there is no doubt that they can help prevent us from getting sick in the first place. Here is how essential oils can help boost your immune system.

Pharmacological Properties Of Essential Oils

When people think about essential oils, they tend to think of them as ground-up and liquified plant matter. However, essential oils are volatile substances known to have innumerable pharmacological properties. They can be:

Anti-viral
Anti-fungal
Antibacterial
Antimicrobial
Antiparasitic
Antioxidant
Anti-inflammatory

Naturally, the exact properties vary, depending on the type of oil. For instance, oils like tea tree and eucalyptus are more suitable for fighting bacteria, while bergamot is better for fighting inflammation.

Improving Sanitation

Keeping one’s environment sanitary is key to protecting oneself from illness. However, many conventional home cleaners are full of harmful VOCs, which can exasperate respiratory conditions and chemical sensitivities and be unsafe for children.

Fortunately, the antibacterial nature of essential oils makes it an excellent choice for cleaning high-touch surfaces. Simply create a mixture of one part water, one part vinegar, and several drops of lemon essential oils, and spray it on surfaces to clean them.

Anxiety Reduction

Many people see mental health and physical health as two separate things. However, our mental health tends to impact our physical health and vice versa, especially when it comes to stress and anxiety. When we are feeling distressed, our body produces the hormone cortisol, which suppresses immune system functions.

Going back centuries, people have used aromatherapy to calm stress, improve mood, and reduce anxiety. Oils we associate with anxiety reduction include:

Lavender
Sandalwood
Bergamot
Jasmine
Chamomile

Sleep Aid

According to the Sleep Foundation, you are 40 percent more likely to become ill if you are sleep-deprived, and 10-30 percent of adults struggle with insomnia. These numbers are especially high with older adults.

The same properties that make essential oils relaxing enough to calm your stress can also help soothe you enough to sleep. Additionally, some essential oils, such as eucalyptus, can clear your airways to help fight conditions that may wake you in the night, like snoring or sleep apnea.

Knowing how essential oils boost your immune system is the first step toward using oils to improve your overall wellness. The second is extracting your own DIY essential oils using Extractcraft’s home botanical extraction equipment.