During the Fall and Winter seasons, not only do our skin and hair suffer from climate changes, but we may also experience lower levels of energy, bad moods and sometimes even depression. There are a lot of natural ways to boost our mood and help us manage through tough times. Essential oils and aromatherapy are effective natural remedies that have been used for thousands of years to combat depression, increase joy and boost energy.

How do Essential Oils work?

When you smell an essential oil, receptors in the nose react to aroma molecules and send signals to the limbic system of the brain. The limbic system rules our emotions, which is why smelling certain scents can trigger positive emotions including a sense of peace, joy, contentment or excitement. Besides triggering emotions, the limbic system is connected to certain parts of our brain that control blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, memory, stress levels and hormone balance. That means that smelling essential oils with certain properties can affect our bodies on both physiological and psychological levels.

How to use Essential oils?

• Diffuse oils using a special oil diffuser in your room.

• Rub a few drops of essential oils topically behind your ears, on the back of the neck, stomach and bottoms of the feet. We always recommend properly diluting oils before topical application (using a carrier oil, like Sweet Almond) and always testing on a small area (like the wrist) to see how your body reacts to the oil

• Dilute essential oils with a carrier oil and use the mixture as body moisturizer or therapeutic massage oil.

Here are our Favorite Essential Oils to Help you Feel Better:

• Lavender helps alleviate anxiety and depression.

• Jasmine essential oil has a pleasing and uplifting effect on the mind and actively fights depression. It is also an aphrodisiac that makes you feel in love, enhances your libido and feelings of sexual desire. Jasmine Essential oil induces long, restful and undisturbed sleep. It has sedative properties meaning it calms down the body, mind and soul.

• Mandarin oil is a common sedative that helps to relax and calm nervous afflictions and disturbances and removes stress and anxiety. It can even calm attacks of epilepsy, hysteria and convulsions.

• Petitgrain essential oil helps to overcome depression, anxiety, stress, anger, and fear. It uplifts the mood and induces positive thinking.

• Rue essential oil also acts as a sedative for the nerves and calms down nervous disturbances and afflictions, convulsions, and nervous hyper-activity.

Other mood increasing Essential oils:

• Geranium

• Neroli

• Rose

• Cassia

• Myrrh

• Bergamot

• Ylang Ylang

Essential oils such as Jasmine, Mandarin, Rue, Geranium, Petitgrain, Rose, Cassia, Neroli and Myrrh are included in our Clearly MOOD body oil, which I use on days when I feel stressed, sad or low in energy.

I like to apply Clearly MOOD after I take a relaxing warm bath before going to sleep, or as a body moisturizer after a nice shower.