Essential Oils for Winter Wellness

In our modern world we’re exposed to a variety of toxins in our daily lives through pollution, personal hygiene products, cleaning agents and even our own food. We have even turned to synthetic answers to our health problems.

Though it has become normal, we don’t need synthetic chemicals to improve our lives or solve our problems. We can use what nature has already given us to live healthy, happy lives. Taken straight from the earth, essential oils allow us to capture the full power of nature and bring it into our homes, combating toxins and giving our bodies what they truly crave - gentle, natural solutions to our problems.

Building on ancient traditions, we now have the scientific research and technology needed to bring the power of nature to your family. Derived from nature, essential oils are natural solutions to support you and your family.

Renowned for their variety of uses and benefits and for providing solutions to every day problems, you can confidently lean into doTERRA’s gifts of the earth to help elevate your wellness.

Top 5 ways to use essential oils for winter wellness:

1. Ease symptoms 
2. Improve sleep and immunity 
3. Elevate emotional wellbeing 
4. Clean and sanitise surfaces 
5. Purify the air

1. Ease symptoms 

Essential oils have the power to help ease symptoms of many common health concerns. From digestive issues to cold and flu symptoms, they have become a popular solution for those wanting to experience and maintain good health.

In fact, pure and potent doTERRA essential oils are often a viable natural alternative to other health practices because they can be tailored to fit specific preferences and needs. This means that rather than settling for a generic solution, you can be in control of your own health.

Essential oils can help promote feelings of clear breathing. Research suggests that essential oils with chemical constituents alpha-pinene, limonene, and eucalyptol- among others- can help support respiratory health. These constituents are found in essential oils like Eucalyptus, Lemon and Peppermint and more. When used properly these essential oils (and others) are effective at promoting feelings of clear airways and easy breathing. Peppermint, for example, has a strong cooling and soothing vapour, which can be especially helpful for creating the sensation of open airways.

Aromatic use allows us to experience essential oils through the air, most commonly through a diffuser. Using essential oils aromatically is a popular application method for essential oils - it’s incredibly easy and allows you to start enjoying the aroma of an essential oil almost immediately. To help ease wintery symptoms aromatically, choose single oils or blends, such as doTERRA Easy Air, with expansive qualities. You can then add a couple of drops to the palms of your hands, cup of your nose and inhale deeply. Or simply add to a diffuser to help soothe winter woes.

You can also apply essential oils topically - or on the skin to help ease symptoms. With topical application, the cooling and invigorating properties of essential oils can also help promote feelings of clear breathing. Applying oils to your chest will provide quick access to aromatic benefits and can even help create a cooling and soothing vapour that promotes feelings of clear airways and easy breathing. Some good oils to use for this include Eucalyptus, Cardamom and Peppermint. For children, dilute Eucalyptus essential oil and apply it topically to your children’s chests and backs. As they breathe deep, the essential oil will provide an invigorating vapour.

Some essential oils are safe for internal use, meaning they can be mixed with food or beverages and ingested to experience their benefits and help ease symptoms. Lemon essential oil for example would be great added to honey and hot water to help soothe a sore throat. 

2. Improve sleep and immunity 

During sleep your body is hard at work rebuilding and repairing itself. It’s mending blood vessels, balancing hormones, and maintaining or even boosting the immune system. Good sleep is one of the most essential elements of a healthy life. Unfortunately, sleep is one of the most undervalued parts of modern schedules. In this busy world, it’s all too easy to sacrifice sleep to other pursuits like work and family responsibilities, social time and even technological distractions. Research shows the time you spend sleeping is crucial to brain function, emotional wellbeing, and other vital health areas. Sleep plays a vital role in health and wellbeing throughout your life, so it’s worth prioritising.

Essential oils are an incredible, natural tool to help you sleep. There are many different ways they can be used to benefit sleep and a couple of key reasons why they’re effective. You may have heard of the term sleep hygiene. It refers to the bedroom environment and daily routines that promote consistent, uninterrupted sleep. It includes things like keeping a stable sleep schedule, making your bedroom comfortable and free of distractions, following a relaxing bedtime routine and more. Using essential oils daily as part of your sleep hygiene routine can be an extremely powerful way to enhance your sleep. This is because when any ritual is used regularly and consistently your body begins to recognise what’s happening and knows it’s time for sleep. The sights, sounds, smells and rituals of your routine can help your body and brain relax.

Another way essential oils are effective at helping you fall asleep is through what’s called a positive association. When you want to use the power of aroma to help you sleep you can simply anchor the aroma of certain essential oils with your bedtime routine. Once established, aromatic cues from the oils send signals to your brain that it’s time to sleep. This practice can dramatically improve not only the time it takes for you to fall asleep, but the quality of sleep you get once you drift off.

Certain essential oils contain particular chemical constituents that are beneficial to relieve tension and promote relaxation and calm. Lavender is one of the best known essential oils for sleep and its benefits are at least partially due to the chemical component linalool, which is known for its ability to soothe body and mind.

Diffusing essential oils is one of the simplest ways to take advantage of their aromatic benefits, particularly at bedtime. Placing a diffuser near your bed allows you to easily experience the calming, relaxing aromas of essential oils as you create the perfect night time environment.

3. Elevate emotional wellbeing 

Our emotional health is inextricably linked to our overall wellbeing. Good mental health not only positively affects our physical health but, according to research, it can actually help prevent serious health conditions such as heart attack and stroke.

Certain essential oils are renowned for their ability to positively influence emotional wellbeing. They can help you cope with stress and anxiety and support more balanced moods and emotions. Because of doTERRA’s strict testing and quality control standards, you can rely on the purity, potency and power of the oils and lean into the benefits for your emotional health.

By creating a custom atmosphere with your favourite oils, you can truly transform any space and- as a result - your mood and emotions. Try diffusing the uplifting aroma of Lime, Grapefruit or Tangerine in the morning to create a cheerful, energising atmosphere to better prepare you to face the day. At the end of a long day, diffusing a calming aroma such as Lavender and Roman Chamomile will create a calming and soothing space that can help you relax into your evening.

Certain essential oils have specific chemical elements that help promote a generally calming, relaxing, grounding, energising or soothing environment, while others are known for their balancing and grounding effect on the emotions. These oils are often used to enhance mindfulness and meditation. Oils like  Frankincense and Buddhawood may even have the power to help you reach another level of consciousness and have spiritually awakening properties, depending on how open the user is to the possibility.

4. Clean and sanitise surfaces 

While cleaning is cathartic for some, for others it’s a chore. But no matter how you feel about cleaning, it’s an unavoidable part of life. Having a sanitary space is necessary for a healthy lifestyle and can prevent certain health issues 

If cleaning with natural, non-toxic ingredients is important to you, then doTERRA essential oils can provide a simple yet powerful way of keeping things clean naturally. Many essential oils contain cleansing properties because of their chemical makeup. Every essential oil has a unique molecular composition that creates its benefits. When you use essential oils for cleaning, you’re relying on their chemical components to provide cleansing and purifying power. Because of the way essential oils are extracted from plants, they’re extremely potent. This potency is part of what makes them so excellent for household cleaning, as it only requires a small amount to see big results.Some cleaning products on the market are full of powerful yet potentially dangerous chemicals that may put your family at risk when used in the house. The beauty of using pure essential oils for cleaning is they only contain the natural chemical components found within the plant, so when used in proper quantities, they’re safe for your home and family. If you have small children or just want to ensure your family isn’t being exposed to unnecessary toxins and chemicals every day, essential oils provide a safe, natural solution for keeping your space clean.

One major benefit of cleaning with essential oils is that they’re so versatile. A single product can help clean multiple parts of the home. Typically, it requires an entire cupboard of different cleaning products to keep the entire house clean. But often, one essential oil can be used for a variety of jobs, from cleaning the kitchen to the bathroom, refreshing the air, getting rid of sticky messes, helping with laundry and more. Essential oils can also be used to make your own cleaning agents tailoring each to your personal cleaning preferences or needs. The potent nature of essential oils means you won’t need a lot of it to complete a cleaning task. When it comes to cleaning with essential oils, a little goes a long way, which is why many people find them to be a cost effective solution as well.

Perhaps one of the greatest appeals of cleaning with essential oils is you have the added benefit of enjoying beautiful aromas while you clean. Many cleaning products have strong, artificial or unpleasant smells because they’re full of synthetic chemicals and other unnatural ingredients. When you use essential oils to clean, you can smell their lovely natural aromas, which can last up to a few hours. Using essential oils with uplifting, refreshing and invigorating scents will make your home feel extra clean.

5. Purify the air 

Essential oils are incredible at offering immediate benefits, such as promoting a calm and stable environment, contributing to an uplifting or energising atmosphere and freshening the air. Aromatic use can transform the world around you and help purify the air.

For more information on how to use essential oils for wellness contact Sheree.