11 Essential Oils That Help With Seasonal Changes

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Do you notice your energy and mood start to dip as the weather gets colder? Seasonal changes can have a substantial impact on your mood. Some even experience heightened levels of depression, anxiety, and restlessness during winter. Others even suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

Aromatherapy has been around for centuries dating thousands of years back in East and South Asia. Relying on nature for medicine continues to go beyond healing the body to healing the mind and spirit. All these years later, we continue to rely on essential oils to deliver concentrated doses of mood-enhancing fragrances that have the ability to stimulate the “happy chemicals” in our brains.

Here are 11 essential oils that help with seasonal changes to keep you happy, balanced, and energized all year round.

Where to Source Your Essential Oils

You want quality oils to fill the air in your home, the best essential oils will be pure and unadulterated or diluted. You can learn about our favorite essential oil brand to discover the highest-quality and affordable essential oils on the market.

Recharge With Lemon

Lemon and other citrus essential oils are bold and bright scents. They awaken your senses and make you alert to your surroundings. Lemon essential oil is great for Monday mornings after a slow weekend or to wear on an oil-diffusing necklace to help keep you feeling recharged all day at the office and even provide your immune system with an added boost.

Wake Up With Peppermint

Peppermint is an already familiar smell during fall and winter. It’s known to stimulate focus and improve your attention span. If the shorter days tend to fog your thoughts, peppermint essential oil is a guaranteed way to keep your mind sharp.

Chillout With Sandalwood

Want your bedroom, office, or skin to smell like you just stepped foot into a misty forest with hints of exotic flowers blooming beneath your feet? This is the best way to describe the gently calming therapeutic scent of Sandalwood essential oil.

Be Happy With Ylang Ylang

Ylang Ylang is an essential oil extracted from Cagnagna, a tree indigenous to Bali, Indonesia. Natives of this getaway island say Ylang Ylang promotes feelings of relaxation, comfort, and happiness. Diffusing Ylang Ylang essential oil is perfect on those cold winter nights that make you want to escape to a tropical island.

Smile With Vanilla

While some therapeutic essential oils are exotic, nothing feels closer to home than the warm charm of vanilla. It’s familiar, it’s cozy, and you can’t help but think of your favorite dessert when comforted by this fragrance. Vanilla essential oil is great to pair with nearly all of the others on the list. Mixing a few drops of vanilla essential oil will a sweet undertone to any citrus or floral-derived essential oil.

Sleep Easy With Lavender

Lavender is perhaps one of the most famous essential oils and scents in general. It is well-know that lavender is the ultimate aromatherapy essential oil because of its intense relaxing effects. If you want to wind down and calm the body and mind, lavender is great to keep next to your bed or add a few drops to a warm bath for a relaxing spa experience.

Stay Healthy With Bergamot

Bergamot essential oil is derived from the Bergamot citrus fruit that’s native to China. Ancient Chinese healers have long used the oil from the fruit people to heal digestive ailments, reduce inflammation, and align the body’s chi or energy flow.

Get Your Second Wind With Rosemary

Need a breath of fresh air to pull you through a long day? Rosemary essential oil gently stimulates brain properties that resemble the brain’s reaction to a caffeinated cup of coffee. The smell of Rosemary essential oil is earthy, herby, and may quickly help relieve panic attacks.

Ease Anxiety With Jasmine

Similar to Lavender, Jasmine can relax nerves and slow racing thoughts. It’s the most commonly used essential oils when treating depression symptoms with naturopathy. Use Jasmine essential oil on your most blue days to inspire confidence, optimism, and to encourage grounding.

Relieve Headaches With Cinnamon

Cinnamon essential oil is reputed to stimulate blood circulation aiding in the relief of tension headaches and exhaustion. Cinnamon has stimulating properties that combat fatigue and improve alertness.

Clear Your Mind With Basil

Basil essential oil creates a fresh, clean scent, much like walking through a garden of herbs. Even if you don’t suffer from seasonal sadness or lack of energy, basil essential oil can be used during meditation to keep the mind from wondering and induces feelings of serenity.

Where to Source Essential Oils

If you want high-quality, affordable essential oils, the brands I recommend are Rocky Mountain Oils (you can learn why here) or Plant Therapy.

How To Use Essential Oils

Now that you’ve got the best essential oils on hand, your transition through the seasons should be a breeze. Aromatherapy can be experienced by using your essential oils in a number of ways. How you use the essential oil can alter how intensely or how quickly their effects take hold. Here are the best ways to use essential oils for aromatherapy.

• Diffusing oils is a great way to make your own blend of scents in a single place. Diffusing the oils with water allows the fragrance to slowly and gently fill the room. The strength of the scent, like all applications, will be determined by how many drops you use.
• Putting a few drops of essential oils in a hot tub is more therapeutic than standard bath-bombs. The warm water causes the oils to rise to the top of the bathtub and diffuse through steam making them beautifully breathable for immediate relaxation.
• For absorption into the skin and ultimately bloodstreams, some essential oils are safe enough to be applied directly to the skin. For more intense oils, mix with a carrier like avocado, jojoba, or almond oil before applying.
• Creating a compression pad and adding drops of essential oils is great for relieving headaches and anxiety. Bring a small pot of water to almost boiling, turn off the heat, and add your choice of essential oils. Then steep a clean rag in the water, wring the excess water out of the rag, fold it, and place it on your chest or forehead.

Have a look at some of our essential oil recipe posts for more ideas:

• Vodka-Based Perfume Recipes Using Essential Oils
• Simple Homemade Bath Bomb Recipes
• Natural Shaving Oil Recipes
• DIY Beard Balm Recipes
• Skin Softening Bath Oil Recipes

The next time seasonal blues try to bring you down, reach for your essential oil-nature’s remedy for seasonal changes.

Remember to check out Rocky Mountian Oils for high-quality essential oils today!