Essential oils are a natural remedy that have been used for centuries to treat a variety of ailments, including headaches. When used correctly, essential oils can be an effective way to reduce the frequency and severity of headaches. However, it is important to understand how to use essential oils safely and effectively. Essential oils should always be diluted in a carrier oil such as coconut oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil or jojoba oil before using them.
Add five drops of essential oil to 1 ounce of carrier oil. Essential oils should never be applied directly to the skin or ingested. Peppermint oil is one of the most commonly used essential oils for headaches and migraine attacks. It contains menthol, which can help relax muscles and relieve pain.
It is believed that topical application of diluted peppermint oil may help relieve pain from tension headaches and migraine attacks. Rosemary oil has powerful anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. It has been used in folk medicine for hundreds of years to reduce stress, relieve pain and improve circulation, which can help relieve headaches. To use rosemary oil, you can massage the affected area with a few drops of rosemary oil mixed with a carrier oil such as coconut oil.
It is also believed that the scent of rosemary oil, such as breathing in the scent of the skin or a hot bath, can relieve pain. Lavender oil is another popular essential oil for headaches. You can apply diluted lavender oil to your skin, use an oil diffuser or add the diluted oil to a warm bath to get its benefits. If headaches are caused by sinus problems, eucalyptus essential oils can become your new best friend. This oil will open the nasal passages, cleanse the sinuses and help relieve sinus tension that causes headaches.
A 1994 study also found that a combination of peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil and ethanol provided relaxing effects to both muscles and the mind, which could help relieve headaches. You can apply a drop of eucalyptus oil to a carrier oil and apply it to the chest to help clear the sinuses, or add a few drops to hot water and inhale the steam. You should dilute all essential oils, including peppermint and eucalyptus oils, with a carrier oil before applying them to the skin. There are very few essential oils recommended for babies under 1 year old or pregnant and breastfeeding women. Lavender and rosemary oils, in particular, can be dangerous. People have been using peppermint as a medicine for thousands of years.
It is one of the most popular essential oils for treating headaches. Peppermint oil contains menthol, which helps relax muscles and relieves pain. It also has a pleasant cooling effect on the skin that helps inhibit muscle contractions in the head and neck, while stimulating blood flow to that area. This type of essential oil is especially good for tension headaches. Some research has found that applying diluted peppermint oil to the temples can specifically relieve headache pain.
Mix it with mint essential oil and you have a promising remedy for tension headache. Do you want 100 percent essential oil or nothing at all? Essential oils are plant compounds that have been pressed and extracted in the purest form of the material. Frankincense essential oil is distilled from the resin of Boswellia carteri, a tree native to the Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa. As with many alternative remedies, the Food Drug Administration & (FDA) does not regulate essential oils. Using a pain scale called the Visual Analogue Scale, participants who inhaled lavender essential oil had a significantly greater reduction in migraine severity compared to the control group. Although this study is small, larger studies are needed to confirm this finding. This is what research and studies show on the effectiveness of essential oils for headaches and migraines. While using an essential oil, such as lavender or peppermint, to help relieve a migraine or headache attack is a reasonable adjunctive therapy, it is important to ensure that you only use it under the guidance of your doctor. Rosemary oil should not be used by pregnant people or people with high blood pressure or epilepsy, because it comes in three different species that can have different effects on the body.
You may need to dilute the oil more than you normally would for daily use if you use it for migraine. The active ingredient of peppermint oil is menthol. Research shows that this substance can also be effective in treating migraines when a person applies it as a gel to the head. This essential oil can be inhaled, applied to the skin after diluting it with a neutral oil, or ingested orally in very small doses. Two previous studies found that applying peppermint oil to the skin is effective in relieving the pain of a tension headache. Essential oils shouldn't replace doctor-prescribed migraine therapy, but there are some small studies that show that some types of essential oils can reduce the frequency or severity of migraine. They can also interfere with medications you are taking and, for some people, that particular essential oil smell could paradoxically cause a headache or migraine.
