Essential oils for stress and anxiety
Essentials Oil
Essential oils are natural products derived from aromatic plants, traditionally used worldwide for disinfection, as an anti-inflammatory, relaxing, and stimulating substances, with potential and modern exploitation in clinical medicine. The chemical composition of these essential oils varies widely depending upon the geographical location, botanical origin, genetics, bacterial endophytes, and extraction techniques. Essential oils are used in the food and cosmetic industries and as natural alternatives to synthetic preparations to prevent and treat infectious diseases. They traditionally treat other conditions like respiratory tract, digestive system, gynecological, cardiovascular, nervous system, and skin infections. Many of them have shown anticancer activities, too. Essential oil is a highly volatile substance isolated by a physical process from an odoriferous plant of a single botanical species. The oil bears the plant's name from which it derives, for example, rose oil or peppermint oil.History

How do essential oils work?

Distillation
The most common method for isolating essential oils, but other processes, including extraction using fat, maceration, solvent extraction, and mechanical pressing, used for specific products is distillation. Younger plants produce more oil than older ones, but old plants are richer in more resinous and darker oils because of the continuing evaporation of the lighter fractions of the oil. Out of many plant species, essential oils are well characterized and identified from only a few thousand plants. The oils are stored as microdroplets in the glands of plants. After diffusing through the walls of the glands, the droplets spread over the plant's surface before evaporating and filling the air with perfume.Commercial application

Methods of production
The first step in isolating essential oils is crushing or grinding the plant material to reduce the particle size and rupture some of the cell walls of oil-bearing glands. Three different methods of steam distillation are practiced. In the oldest and most straightforward method, a vessel containing water and the chopped or crushed plant material is heated by a direct flame. A water-cooled condenser recovers the water vapor and volatile oil. This original method is being replaced by a process in which the plant material is suspended on a grid above the water level, and steam from a second vessel is introduced under the grid. The volatiles are condensed, and the oil is separated. In the third process, the ship containing the plant material on a grid is heated to prevent steam condensation, so that dry distillation is attained. In most cases, it is possible to shorten the long enfleurage process by extracting the essential oils using molten fat for one to two hours at a temperature ranging from about 45° to 80° C (110° to 175° F). A procedure called expression is applied only to citrus oils, and the outer coloured peel is squeezed in presses, and the oil is decanted or centrifuged to separate water and cell debris. This method is used for sweet and bitter orange oil, lemon, lime, mandarin, tangerine, bergamot, and grapefruit. Much oil is produced as a by-product of the concentrated-citrus-juice industry.Chemical composition
Organic compounds consisting of multiples of isoprene units (containing five carbon atoms) are the most dominant constituents of essential oils. Individual oils, however, may have appreciable quantities of straight-chain, aromatic, or heterocyclic compounds. Garlic oil contains allyl dimethyl sulphide, essential oil contains traces of indole and anthranilic acid esters, oil of violets contains normal alcohols and aldehydes, and many oils contain phenols and other aromatic chemicals. Both hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters, oxides, lactones, acetals, and phenols are responsible for the characteristic odours and flavors. Essential oils are generally expensive, ranging from several U.S. dollars per kilogram on the low side to several thousand dollars per kilogram. The high cost of the natural oils coupled with their limited availability has encouraged a search for substitutes. Significant progress has been made in synthesizing individual components such as geraniol, citral, linalyl acetate, and the like. These synthetics have been combined with natural oils to extend supplies, and they have also blended in an attempt to duplicate the oils themselves. Such reconstituted oils usually lack specific odour notes of the natural products because of an absence of trace ingredients, often unidentified, that may be present in the natural oils. They also tend to have a more "chemical" odour because of trace impurities in the synthetics that are different from the components of natural oils.Popular types
Here's a list of 10 popular essential oils and the health claims associated with them:- Peppermint: used to boost energy and aid digestion
- Lavender: used to relieve stress
- Sandalwood: used to calm nerves and help with focus
- Bergamot: used to reduce stress and improve skin conditions like eczema
- Rose: used to improve mood and reduce anxiety
- Chamomile: used to improve mood and relaxation
- Ylang-Ylang: used to treat headaches, nausea, and skin conditions
- Tea Tree: used to fight infections and boost immunity
- Jasmine: used to help with depression, childbirth, and libido
- Lemon: used to aid digestion, mood, headaches, and more
Lavender oil

Tea tree oil

Frankincense oil

Peppermint oil

- Be an anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antimicrobial.
- Ease headaches.
- Fight fatigue.
- Lift mood.
- Reduce gut spasms.
- Support digestion.
- Support memory.
Eucalyptus oil

Lemon oil

- Reduce anxiety and depression.
- Reduce pain.
- Ease nausea.
- Kill bacteria.
Lemongrass oil

Orange oil

- Kill bacteria.
- Reduce anxiety.
- Reduce pain.
Rosemary oil

Bergamot oil
What is bergamot? If you're a fan of Earl Grey tea, then you have had bergamot. The oil, which has a fruity and floral aroma, can be diffused or applied topically with a carrier oil (but it can make your skin sensitive to the sun). Bergamot oil is known to:- Reduce anxiety.
- Lift mood.
- Lower blood pressure.
Cedarwood oil
