The US Food and Drug Administration generally recognizes lavender as safe for human consumption. The essential oil was used in hospitals during World War One.
Lavender is best known for its fragrant purple blossoms and is a perennial plant that grows yearly. It’s best known for its health benefits. Published at clevelandclinic.org, traditional herbal textbooks, and research studies confirm lavender’s role as a health Jack of all trades.
It’s because the plant’s parts contain different chemical compounds that positively affect your body – from its ability to boost your mood to reduce colic symptoms.
Lavender may also:
- Support Sleep: some studies suggest lavender can improve your body’s melatonin levels, supporting a better night’s rest.
- Reduce Pain and Inflammation: Research has shown that lavender essential oil can help reduce headaches and pain.
- Help with mood, anxiety, and depression: “Lavender is known for its ability to calm the nervous system, lift the mood, and even lower blood pressure,” says Dr. Yufang Lin. “Research links lavender usage to less anxiety and depression.”
- Relieve menstrual pain: In one study, women who smelled lavender for 30 minutes daily during the first three days of their period had less pain after two months. Other research has linked applying lavender essential oil to the abdomen with less menstrual pain.
- Kill harmful viruses and bacteria: “Before we had antiseptics, people used lavender to clean hospital wards,” explains Dr. Lin. “It’s still used for its antimicrobial and antiviral properties.”
- Reduce colic symptoms: one study found that aromatherapy massage using lavender oil effectively reduced colic symptoms in infants, including how long they cried per week.
- Aid wound healing by improving the skin’s ability to produce collagen post-surgery.
Lavender essential oil can be used in many different ways. Here are a few suggestions published at youngliving.com.
- Diffuse at bedtime. Add lavender oil to a diffuser and let it run for a few minutes as part of your bedtime routine. Enjoying the calming, familiar scent is a dreamy way to drift off. Depending on your affinity for lavender oil, you can put a few drops on a tissue or cotton ball and tuck it in your pillowcase to get a more consistent aroma.
- Apply for glowing skin. Update your skin-care routine. This oil has traditionally been used for cleansing and soothing skin. Add lavender essential oil to your favorite lotion or hair care products to support healthy-looking skin and scalp for a boost of floral aroma. Lavender can be added to your daily face wash routine to soothe minor skin irritations; the aroma will help keep you alert.
- Create a calm environment. Use this oil for a moment of calm when life gets too busy. Diffuse while you take a few minutes to breathe deeply, enjoy the aroma, and recite calming and positive affirmations.
- Take hair care up a notch. Ensure a good hair day every day with a drop or two of lavender oil mixed with Rosemary essential oil in your shampoo. Your healthier-looking hair will catch everyone’s eye.
- Support a healthier-looking complexion. Embrace the years as they go by, and add lavender essential oil to your moisturizer to support your skin.
- Boost your favorite drinks. Do you know what we might like even more than the smell of lavender? The taste! Add a splash of elegance to your lemonade with lavender.
- Promote tranquility. When mixed together and applied topically through massage, lavender and peppermint essential oil creates a cool, tingling sensation that lets you relax after whatever curveballs life throws your way.
