DR.

AXE’S
ESSENTIAL OILS
GUIDE

DrAxe.com
 DR. AXE’S ESSENTIAL OILS GUIDE

Essential oils are organic compounds extracted from plants with

tremendous healing properties. Using essential oils for healing
purposes is often called aromatherapy, which is a holistic treatment
seeking to improve physical, mental and emotional health.

For over 5,000 years, many different cultures have used these healing
plant oils for a variety of health conditions. They are often used for
relaxation, beauty care, home cleaning and most often used as natural
medicine.

Just adding some of the most common essential oils like lavender,
frankincense, lemon, peppermint and tea tree oil to your natural
medicine cabinet can:

Fight cold and flu symptoms

Relax your body and soothe sore muscles
Heal skin conditions
Alleviate pain
Balance hormones
Improve digestion
Reduce cellulite and wrinkles

Clean your home

Used in homemade personal care products

What Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are extracted directly from the bark, flower, fruit, leaf, seed
or root of a plant or tree, and just one drop can have powerful health
benefits.

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They are typically created through the process of distillation, which
separates the oil and water-based compounds of a plant by
steaming.

Essential oils are highly concentrated oils that have a strong aroma. By
concentrating the oils of these plants, you are literally separating the
most powerful healing compounds of a plant into a single oil.

These therapeutic oils in plants protect the plant from insects, shield
the plant from a harsh environment and help them adapt to their
surroundings. By taking essential oils, you are harnessing the protective
and healing powers of a plant.

Essential oils are composed of very small molecules that can

penetrate your cells, and some compounds in essential oils can even
cross the blood-brain barrier. They differ from fatty oils (like those in
vegetables or nuts) that come from large molecules because they
cannot penetrate your cells, so they are not therapeutic in the same
manner.

Essential Oils Now Used In Medical Hospitals

Aromatherapy has a variety of health benefits and can be used in

various settings. It is a great non-invasive way to treat a variety of
medical conditions and can be used safely in combination with many
other therapies.

Many traditional hospitals like Vanderbilt University Hospital are

catching on to the benefits of essential oils and are using them in the
treatment of anxiety, depression and infections in hospitalized patients.

Certain essential oils have also been used by midwives to help reduce
fear and anxiety during childbirth.

Essential oils can also have antibacterial or anti-fungal benefits used in

medical settings. Many oils when massaged on the skin can heal or
help treat skin conditions, such as burns or cuts and scrapes. Others
may help boost the immune system, help with insomnia and aid with
digestion.

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Essential oils are even being used to help fight cancer; There is a
plentiful amount of research on the correlation between frankincense
oil and reduced brain tumors.

Top 15 Essential Oils Health Benefits

Each and every essential oil contains compounds with unique healing
and therapeutic benefits. Here are some of the most popular essential
oils and how to use them.

Clove
Anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic and antioxidant protection.

Cypress
Improves circulation, reduces varicose veins, lifts confidence and can
help heal broken bones.

Eucalyptus
Improves respiratory issues like bronchitis, sinusitis and allergies. Also
invigorating and purifies the body.

Frankincense
Builds immunity, reduces inflammation, heals age spots, supports brain
and may help fight cancer.

Ginger
Reduces inflammation, supports joints, improves digestion and relieves
nausea.

Grapefruit
Supports metabolism and cellulite reduction. Mix with coconut oil and
rub on areas of cellulite or take a few drops internally with water.

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 Lavender
Helps with relaxation, improves mood and heals burns and cuts.

Lemon
Great to use in homemade cleaning products, improves lymph
drainage and cleanses the body.

Myrrh
Natural anti-septic and can prevent or reduce infections. Also,
supports beautiful skin, reducing stretch marks and hormone balance.

Oregano
Powerful anti-microbial properties, can kill fungus and help you kick a
cold fast.

Peppermint
Supports digestion, improves focus, boosts energy, fever reducer,
headache and muscle pain relief.

Rose
Incredible for reducing skin inflammation and great for creating
glowing skin. Add a few drops to your facial moisturizer. Also, one of the
most valued essential oils in the world at $1000+ for 15ml.

Rosemary
Can naturally thicken hair so it is great to add to homemade
shampoos. Also, it improves brain function and memory so it’s great to
used when working, reading or studying.

Tea tree oil (Melaleuca)

Natural anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, reduces bad odors and can help
stimulate the immune system.
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 Sandalwood
Natural aphrodisiac that improves libido and can also improve energy.

Different oils can be blended together to enhance each’s energy or can

be blended with a base oil to be used for massage, shower gels or
body lotions.

Essential Oil Applications

Ready to let essential oils guide you back to health? Here are the four
most common ways these healing oils are used today:

Topically
Essential oils have a very small size and the chemical weight of less
than 1000m (m = weight of molecule). This means that essential oils
are able to penetrate the skin and pass into the blood stream and into
different areas of the body for internal therapeutic benefits.

Aromatically
Using a diffuser can help you experience the benefits of essential oils.
You can diffuse lavender to reduce stress, melaleuca to cleanse the air,
wild orange to improve mood, frankincense for spiritual enlightenment
and peppermint to improve focus and energy.

Ingestion
Essential oils can be used as a powerful form of medicine but it should
be remembered that again, essential oils are powerful. Most essential
oils are safe for internal use but a little bit goes a long way. Usually 1-3
drops is plenty mixed with water.

Oils like peppermint, lemon and frankincense have great internal

benefits and can be taken with water. Other essential oils like clove and
oregano need to be diluted and shouldn’t be taken internally for more
than 1 week.

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Personal Care
This is an excellent away to take advantage of essential oils to improve
your beauty, home and long term health. Some of the best DIY recipes
to use essential oils with include: shampoo, body butter, toothpaste,
bug spray, lip balm and household cleaner.

Best Carrier Oils For Aromatherapy

Essential oils are extremely small so they can pass through the skin
and into the body quickly. But if you want to keep the oils on your skin
and dilute them to create more gentleness on the skin you can
combine them with carrier oils.

These larger oils that come from the fatty part of the plant can
increase the length of time the essential oils stay on your skin and also
prolong the aromatherapy effects.

Some people mistakenly think using carrier oils reduces the

effectiveness of the oil but really it can be the opposite. Dilution
increases the surface area of absorption and with certain oils can
prevent sensitivities.

Common carrier oils include:

Almond oil

Avocado
Coconut oil
Jojoba oil
Olive oil

Essential Oils For Skin and Beauty

The good news is you can create your own skin and beauty products
that are more effective than any conventional product on the market.
Here are some benefits of specific oils:

Calm irritated skin – lavender and roman chamomile

Reduce age spots – frankincense

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 Thicken hair – rosemary and sage
Natural SPF skin protection – helichrysum and myrrh
Improve acne – melaleuca (tea tree) and geranium

Essential Oils For Hair Growth

Essential oils for hair loss can make a significant difference at stopping
it in its tracks. Oils of rosemary, lavender and sage can all help
naturally thicken hair by stimulating the hair follicles.

Clary sage and lavender support hair growth by balancing estrogen

levels and rosemary essential oil works by inhibiting DHT (dihydroxy-
testosterone) which stops hair loss. Here is how to naturally thicken hair
with essential oils:

1. Put 10 drops of rosemary oil and 5 drops of lavender oil on different

areas of your scalp.

2. Gently massage into scalp for 2 minutes.

3. Put a hot towel around your head and sit for 20 minutes.

4. Finally, wash hair with natural homemade shampoo.

Essential Oils Bug Spray

Unfortunately, most people turn to chemicals sprays like DEET that are
highly toxic to the body instead of using all-natural mosquito repellent
and essential oil bug sprays. Here are the top essential oils to repel
insects:

Lemongrass
Eucalyptus
Citronella
Peppermint
Clove

Rub or spray all over body to repel bugs.

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Natural First Aid Kit

Having a homemade first aid kit on hand for the everyday wound, sting,
sunburn, muscle pain or injury is always a good idea.

Essential oils are used widely as natural medicine but without the side
effects of conventional drugs like aspirin and antibiotics.

Here are some of the most common essential oils everyone should
have stored in their personal medicine cabinet:

Lavender – to heal burns, cuts, rashes, stings, reduce anxiety and help
sleep after trauma.
Peppermint – to improve pain in joints, muscles, relieve digestive
issues, reduce fevers, clear sinuses, improve asthma, bronchitis and

relieve headaches.
Frankincense – anti-inflammatory, heal bruising, reduce scars, boost
immunity and emotional well-being.
Melaleuca – anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, can be used to prevent and
reduce infection and clean air of pathogens and allergens.

Other oils you may want to have on hand to makeover your medicine
cabinet include: eucalyptus, oregano, and clove.

Essential Oils For Weight Loss

When it comes to losing weight, most everyone understands that

improving diet and doing the right type of exercise can support weight
loss. But, often times people want an extra boost to help them reach
their weight loss goals. Unfortunately, most people turn to stimulants
and caffeine for fat loss rather than plant based medicine.

These 4 essential oils have been proven to support fat loss:

Grapefruit oil contains d-limonene which is found in citrus peels. A

study found that supplementing d-limonene improved metabolic

enzyme levels.

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 Peppermint oil has been shown to improve weight loss because it
suppresses cravings and improves digestion.
Cinnamon oil helps balance blood sugar levels, which can generally
assist in weight loss and improve diabetes.
Ginger oil contains gingerol which has powerful anti-inflammatory
properties and increases thermogenesis which boosts metabolism.

Essential Oil Contraindications

Because essential oils can act as a powerful form of natural medicine,

there are a few instances where they are not recommended for usage:

Pregnancy – Basil, cinnamon, clary sage, clove, cypress, fennel,

jasmine, juniper, marjoram, myrrh, rose, rosemary, sage and thyme.
Heart medications (blood thinners) – Clary sage, cypress, eucalyptus,
ginger, rosemary, sage and thyme.

Essential Oil Quality

This is one of the most vital things you must know about essential oils…
Not all essential oils are created equally. In fact, most of them are
worthless to your health and often synthetic. When buying essential oils
make sure they are certified pure therapeutic grade.

This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Josh Axe, and is for informational and
educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take
the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. Readers of this
content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals
regarding specific health questions. Neither the author nor publisher of this content
takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons
reading or following the information in this educational content. All readers of this
content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications,
should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition or supplement or
lifestyle program. Note: References for this content can be found at draxe.com.

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