“It’s not you, it’s your hormones!”
Hormonal imbalance is one of the biggest culprits to our menopause symptoms. Even a slight decrease in hormones can send shockwaves to our body. It can disable our ability to stay calm, cope with stress or be happy.
Essential oils can relieve menopause symptoms and bringing back balance in your body! They smell great and provide an instant “chill-out” effect when we are under pressure. Essential oils also have a lot of health benefits during menopause!
I know that the world of essential oils is so vast, and honestly, a little confusing. Get to know the best essential oils for menopause and their top health benefits! 🙂
Essential Oils – Your New Best Friend during Menopause!
Essential oils are aromatic chemicals with powerful elements found in many plants. They come from herbs, flowers, grasses, fruits, leaves, trees and more. Essential oils relax the mind and body – two things we need to relieve symptoms!
Essential oils are “volatile”, which means they can convert from liquid to vapor at room temperature. We get the healing effects of essential oils when we smell tiny vaporized molecules. These molecules are light as air so that they can enter our nose and our body receptors absorb them easily.
The smell of an essential oil relaxes the brain, which positively impacts our emotional and mental health. Our blood, skin and gut also absorb essential oils.
Experts say essential oils are 80 times more potent than any other natural supplement. This means that they can give us quick relief for our discomforts!
Make essential oils “essential” in your menopause kit!Click To TweetEssential oils are not a universal cure, but many have phytoestrogens or plant-based estrogens. A lot of essential oils also have adaptogens that relieve stress and stimulate or regulate hormones.
Here are 10 “match-made” in heaven essential oils for menopause!
1. Lavender: brain relaxer.
Lavender has a light floral fragrance that relaxes your brain and improves memory and focus.
2. Geranium: hormone balancer.
According to experts, geranium is an excellent estrogen booster. It also improves the function of the ovaries and uterus, two organs which produces estrogen and progesterone. Geranium also maintains the natural moisture of our skin and revitalizes damaged tissues.
3. Neroli oil: estrogen producer.
Studies say neroli has a similar compound like estrogen which can help support the body during menopause. Neroli can also relax our blood vessels to lower and regulate blood pressure.
4. Rosemary: toxin eliminator.
Rosemary is a good hormone-balancing oil because it can detoxify the body from toxins and fake hormones like xenoestrogens.
5. Peppermint: hot flash buster.
Essential oils such as peppermint and eucalyptus are rich in menthol. This calming compound relaxes the blood vessels, muscle and hypothalamus relieving vasomotor symptoms, like hot flashes and night sweats.
6. Frankincense: mood lifter.
Are you experiencing mood swings, anxiety and depression? Frankincense regulates the brain’s limbic system, which controls your emotions. This essential oil also stimulates serotonin production which enhances your mood.
7. Chamomile: sleep inducer.
Get some quality sleep tonight with chamomile before bedtime. This essential oil is popular for increasing melatonin and putting your sleep-wake cycle in order.
8. Ylang-ylang: libido enhancer.
Low libido is common in menopause. Ylang-ylang has the power to increase blood flow into our intimate areas which increases libido and prevents vaginal dryness.
9. Basil: energy booster.
This essential oil is good for crashing fatigue, lethargy and stress. Basil can regulate cortisol, a stress hormone that can suppress our estrogen and progesterone levels.
10. Vitex Agnus-castus Oil: progesterone enhancer.
Vitex agnus-castus oil comes from a shrub in Central Asia. The leaves and berries of this shrub are rich in essential oils and they have different medicinal effects. Vitex agnus-castus oil controls bleeding, increases ovulation, corrects period irregularities, relieves premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and menopause by stimulating progesterone production.
Most of these essential oils have a wide range of other healing properties. They have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and immune strengthening effects to the body.
Hope Gillerman, master aromatherapist, has amazing thoughts on how to use essential oils for menopause and hot flashes [5:42]:
Hope wrote a practical and beautiful book called “Essential Oils Every Day” where she explains all the ways the power of essential oils can transform your life!
How to Use Essential Oils for Menopause!
When we think about essential oils, we can’t leave out the use of diffusers. Diffusers are devices that disperses the aroma of essential oils in the air by creating mists. Aromatherapy benefits are well-documented, and diffusers are handy and convenient. However, there are actually many other ways how to use essential oils – here are some of them!
- Topical – if using essential oils in topical solution, be sure to mix it with a carrier oil such as coconut, olive or nut oil. Most essential oils are too strong for the skin, so the key is to dilute it to make it less concentrated!
- Aromatic bath – combine 15 drops of essential oil with half a cup of Epsom salt, pour it into your bathwater and sit in it for a few minutes.
- Liquid spray – mix essential oils with water, shake and spray into the air! It can serve as a deodorizer, mood setter, or even as an air purifier. Peppermint spray is excellent for the relief of hot flashes and night sweats. Joyce Rockwood is an essential oil advocate, and she has this cool video how to make peppermint spray. She also explains how peppermint relaxes the brain [2:41]!
- Steam inhalation – add drops of essential oils in a bowl of hot water, place a towel over your head and do deep breathing. Remember to close your eyes when doing this to avoid irritation!
- Dry evaporation – dab a few drops of essential oil onto a tissue, cotton or a piece of cloth and let the fragrance of essential oils evaporate into the air!
If you want to carry essential oils wherever you go, this essential oil necklace gift set is super handy! You can play around with the essential oils you like and place your felt pads inside the locket. I also love the inspiring message at the back of the locket!
What to Look for When Buying Essential Oils!
Choose essential oils with therapeutic grade. Many products today are synthetic, so their healing effects also lessen. Avoid essential oils diluted in vegetable oils. You’ll know this when a drop of essential oil leaves an oily ring in a piece of paper.
Buy essential oils that have both Latin and common names and country of origin in their labels. Generic essential oils are sold all over the market, and they may have harmful synthetic ingredients. Containers should be in glass, dark amber color, so unfiltered light doesn’t enter, preventing spoiling.
Love this 6 Essentials Oil Gift Set Kit by Nature’s Oil. It’s 100% organic and pure therapeutic grade! This 18 Ultimate Essential Oils Set is also an awesome choice if you want to get the most popular oils!
Essential oils can last for 5 to 10 years, but using them within a year is the best choice. To extend shelf life and avoid spoiling, store in the fridge.
Essentials oils have been used for thousands of years. However, Dr. Josh Axe says we need to use them responsibly. Here are the Top 10 Essential Oil Mistakes to Avoid according to Dr. Axe [11:11]:
FACT BOX
Why Do Plants Produce Essential Oils and How Are They Extracted?
Plants produce essential oils as a defense mechanism to ward off insects, animals and plant diseases. Essential oils also hasten pollination by attracting bees, butterflies, wasps, moths, beetles and other pollinators. Lastly, plants make essential oils to compete for sunlight, moisture and nutrients from other plants. There are many ways to get essential oils from plants:
- Steam distillation – one of the oldest methods to create organic and unadulterated essential oils. This process involves steaming plants and reducing their essential oil content to a more concentrated mixture.
- Cold expression – this method is only for extracting citrus essential oils. The outer skin of, let´s say, a lemon is placed under pressure to get all its essential oils. After this, the liquid is put in a centrifuge of rotation to separate the essential oil from the juice.
- Solvent extraction – done by soaking plant parts in a solvent to lure out the fragrance of an essential oil.
- CO2 extraction – uses carbon dioxide to produce an essential oil extract. This is one of the best methods for getting an almost pure plant essential oil.
Want to learn more about essential oils?
Then you should check out Dr. Eric Zielinski’s book “The Healing Power of Essential Oils: Soothe Inflammation, Boost Mood, Prevent Autoimmunity and Feel Great in Every Way.”
This book explains how essential oil blends promote hormone balance, reduce inflammation, improve digestion, increased immunity and so much more! Dr. Eric Zielinski’s book will also give you over 150 recipes for every health need, and a special section on women’s health which includes dozens of formulations for Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), fertility, pregnancy, candida and menopause.
Essential oils can give you immediate and long-term relief during menopause. Experts say essential oils can take effect in as fast as 20 minutes!
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References:
ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/jco.2009.27.15_suppl.1516
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17267908
cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/470/031361-470.html
sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Jones1981.pdf
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115001033
www.isiaq.org/docs/PDFs/2309.pdf
Gita is the founder of My Menopause Journey. Since 2014, she has been supporting midlife women by sharing hard-earned learnings from her own experience. To advance her knowledge, Gita puts a lot of her time and effort into understanding the broad spectrum of women’s health. She immerses in extensive research about the physical, mental and emotional aspects of menopause. Gita believes in the life-changing power of healthy, holistic living — this is where she anchors her message to all women. Learn more about her marvelous mission in About us - My Menopause Journey.