What if I told you that boosting your health could be as simple as taking a deep inhalation? Yep, it’s true, research has found that inhaling the fragrant molecules found in herbal extractions known as essential oils can have some potent effects on your health.

When it comes to these aromatic, highly-concentrated oils, a little goes a long way. Whether you’re inhaling them, applying them topically, or ingesting them, just a few drops of essential oils can have some remarkable healing properties.

Today we’re going to explore exactly what essential oils are, the science behind some of their most impressive health benefits, and how to go about choosing the best quality essential oils. Let’s dive in.

What Exactly Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are concentrated extracts from a variety of different plants. Essential oils get their name from the fact that they contain compounds that are “essential” to the plants. The fusion of compounds found in these oils contains the key components plants depend on to:

• Grow
• Evolve
• Adapt to their surroundings
• Defend themselves from predators and environmental damage
• Heal from injuries
• Protect themselves from viral or bacterial infections
• Deliver nutrients to the plant's cells

By steaming, pressing, or distilling specific parts of the plant, we can extract concentrated doses of these “essential” compounds and tap into their many powers. And that can translate into some extraordinary benefits for your health.

What Essential Oils Are Best For Health?

Each plant that essential oil is extracted from has a unique chemical composition. And each of these chemicals interacts with your body in a unique and specific way. So there is not necessarily one specific essential oil that is “best” for health.

Rather, specific essential oils – or combinations of essential oils – each have a distinct impact on your body. So, let’s take a big-picture look at some of the research behind how certain essential oils exert their miraculous effects.

Essential Oils For Immunity

Certain essential oils (like eucalyptus, frankincense, thyme, and ginger to name a few) have immune-enhancing and inflammation-fighting effects. It’s thought these essential oils can modulate your immune system by:^2,3

• Promoting the activity of important immune cells such as lymphocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells
• Increasing phagocytosis – the engulfment and elimination of harmful microbes and compounds by specialized immune cells
• Inducing the production of immune-supporting chemicals like interferon, interleukin-6, and IgA
• Exerting a powerful antimicrobial effect by destroying the cellular membrane of harmful microbes – hence inhibiting their growth and proliferation

These potent immune-boosting effects could have promising implications when it comes to minimizing inflammation, managing inflammation-related conditions, and even addressing autoimmunity.

Essential Oils For Gut Health

Essential oils can enhance gut health by:

• Minimizing Inflammation: Studies have found that essential oils (like oregano and rosemary) can drastically reduce inflammation levels and reverse symptoms of inflammatory bowel disorders like ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome. They can also bolster the integrity of your gut lining – essentially healing leaky gut syndrome and the host of unpleasant symptoms that come along with it.^4,5,6 
• Enhancing digestion: Certain essential oils (like lemon, fennel, and peppermint) can support the healthy motility or rhythmic movement of the muscles in your intestines – relieving constipation and promoting healthy bowel movements.^7,8
• Supporting a healthy, balanced, and diverse microbiome: Essential oils have been found to positively impact the gut microbiome – promoting an abundant and thriving population of health-promoting good bacteria.^9,10 
• Supporting communication with your brain along the gut-brain axis: Your gut is inextricably linked to your brain. Essential oils can have a remarkable impact on mood, stress levels, and mental health which in turn supports a happy, healthy gut.

More and more research is finding that your gut is a major dictator of your overall health. So essential oils' impressive impact on gut health can have a ripple effect – positively influencing every facet of your well-being.

Essential For Brain Health and Mental Health

Essential oils can be a powerful way to elevate your mood and support mental health. They have even been found to effectively improve symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mood disorders.

You see, when you inhale essential oils, the fragrant microscopic molecules are absorbed via your respiratory tract and are able to directly influence your central nervous system, cognitive function, and mood in the following ways:¹¹ 

• Hormone and neurotransmitter regulation: Essential oils can impact levels of crucial compounds like cortisol, serotonin, dopamine, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) 
• Increased neurogenesis: Essential oils upregulate brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) – a compound that stimulates the development of new neuronal (brain) cells and promotes neuroplasticity (communication amongst brain cells)
• Activation of different brain regions: When you inhale certain scents, your olfactory system (your sense of smell) can trigger what’s known as odorant-evoked signals that can activate parts of your brain that influence your emotional state
• Inflammation mitigation: By inhibiting the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain, essential oils can downregulate inflammation and its damaging effects

This combination of effects can have a potent impact on your mood, memory, brain health, and overall sense of well-being. 

Essential Oils For Hormone Balance

Hormones act as chemical messengers throughout your body – communicating vital information between body systems. Your hormones impact quite literally every function in your body. 

Just a handful of the hormones essential oils have been found to influence include:^{12,13,14,15,16}

• Insulin: This impacts blood sugar regulation, metabolic health, and body fat
• Cortisol: Also dubbed the stress hormone, cortisol plays an important role in your stress levels, sleep-wake cycle, and energy levels
• Estrogen: Estrogen levels can impact menopausal symptoms, menstrual health, and fertility
• GABA: While technically a neurotransmitter, this crucial compound plays an important role in sleep, stress, and mood

It’s clear that essential oils can have a significant influence on your health. So how do you go about choosing the right essential oils?

How Do I Choose Essential Oils?

When it comes to selecting essential oils, it’s important to know that they are not all created equally. Some things to look for to ensure you’re getting the highest quality essential oils include:

• 100% pure essential oil: Lower-quality fragrance oils can sometimes be disguised as essential oils. These inferior oils are often diluted and chock-full of artificial substances. Look for labels that clearly identify that the bottle contains 100% pure essential oil.
• Clearly labeled ingredients: Be sure all ingredients are listed and that each essential oil also contains the plants' Latin name (usually found in parentheses next to its common name) so you can be sure of exactly what you’re getting.
• Organic: Because essential oils are intensely concentrated, it’s important to ensure they are organic. That way you don’t also get a concentrated dose of harmful chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers.
• Verification of sourcing and processing: High-quality essential oils should identify where the plants were sourced from and the processes used to extract the oils. While this isn’t always evident on labels (considering how small they are) you can often find this information on a company's website.

While high-quality essential oils can be significantly more costly than their cheap, low-quality counterparts, a little goes a long way. And if a price tag seems too good to be true, it usually is.

So, Which Brand Is Best For Essential Oils?

While there are a number of excellent essential oil brands out there, you can’t beat the quality found in Vibrant Blue’s essential oil line. Here’s just a handful of the reasons I trust and personally use Vibrant Blue essential oils: 

• Top-notch quality: Vibrant Blue’s essential oils check all of the boxes when it comes to high quality. All of their essential oil blends are organic or wild-crafted and every batch is tested for purity.
• Sourced responsibly and sustainably: All oils are sourced through small, independently-owned, organic farms that are dedicated to sustainability.
• Synergistically blended: Vibrant Blue carefully calibrates unique blends of essential oils that work together to enhance each individual oils healing properties. By infusing multiple oils, they are able to create potent blends that have a more pronounced impact.
• Root-cause focused: Vibrant Blue takes the guesswork out of piecing together which oils to use for what. Each of their essential oil blends is targeted at addressing an underlying imbalance. They have blends designed to address specific concerns like repairing your gut, enhancing immunity, balancing hormones, and promoting sleep.  

Vibrant Blue Oils fine-tuned formulations make it incredibly easy to tap into the power of essential oils without wasting hours researching which blends to use. Just take a look at some of their incredible root-caused-focused blends.

Some of My Favorite Vibrant Blue Oil Blends

Some of Vibrant Blue’s best-selling blends that are precisely calibrated to address specific concerns include:

• Immune Support: A blend of 13 different essential oils (including cinnamon, lemon, clove, and thyme) designed to strengthen your immune system and give you an edge in combating harmful microbes and ongoing inflammation.
• Calm: A fusion of 5 unique oils (including orange, ylang-ylang, and patchouli) that work together to alleviate anxiety, soothe tension, and promote a deep sense of peace and relaxation.
• Digest: Formulated with 6 powerful essential oils (including ginger, juniper berry, and peppermint) that work to optimize digestion, balance intestinal activity, and alleviate digestive upset such as diarrhea, nausea, bloating, and more.
• Estrogen Balance: Essential oils from chamomile, celery seed, lemon, orange, and rosemary are blended together to support the balance of estrogen with progesterone. This promotes optimal liver function and the gentle detoxification of any excess estrogen.

And since it can be hard to choose just one oil blend, Vibrant Blue Oils has the option to purchase pre-made kits to address specific concerns. Or you can even build your own essential oil kit – choose any 3 oil blends for just $99! 

Click here to see their entire lineup of essential oil blends and build your own kit today.

Ready to Experience the Power of Essential Oils?

When paired with the right strategies, essential oils can be a powerful tool when it comes to your health and well-being. While essential oils certainly aren’t a “cure-all” on their own, implementing a strategic blend of these mighty oils can give you a serious edge in addressing an ongoing condition and optimizing your well-being.

If you’re interested in experiencing the power of carefully crafted and calibrated blends of essential oils, you can’t go wrong with Vibrant Blue Oils. I only recommend brands I truly believe in and have personally used. You can learn more about Vibrant Blue oils’ mission and how their oils are made by clicking right here. 

Or you can tune into my interview with Jodi Cohen, the founder of Vibrant Blue Oils by clicking right here. We chat all about how to use essential oils to banish anxiety, enhance detoxification, improve adrenal function, and more.

Now it’s time to hear from you. Were you surprised to learn just how big of an influence essential oils can have on our health? What’s your favorite blend of essential oils to use? Leave your questions and thoughts in the comments below!

Resources:

1. Essential Oils (nih.gov)
2. Much More Than a Pleasant Scent: A Review on Essential Oils Supporting the Immune System – PMC (nih.gov)
3. Essential Oils as Antimicrobial Agents—Myth or Real Alternative? – PMC (nih.gov)
4. Effects of a Combination of Thyme and Oregano Essential Oils on TNBS-Induced Colitis in Mice – PMC (nih.gov)
5. Herbal and plant therapy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease – PMC (nih.gov)
6. Oregano Essential Oil Improves Intestinal Morphology and Expression of Tight Junction Proteins Associated with Modulation of Selected Intestinal Bacteria and Immune Status in a Pig Model – PMC (nih.gov)
7. [Effect of aromatherapy massage for the relief of constipation in the elderly] – PubMed (nih.gov)
8. Effect of fibre, antispasmodics, and peppermint oil in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis | The BMJ
9. Oregano Essential Oil Improves Intestinal Morphology and Expression of Tight Junction Proteins Associated with Modulation of Selected Intestinal Bacteria and Immune Status in a Pig Model – PMC (nih.gov)
10. The Influence of Essential Oils on Gut Microbial Profiles in Pigs – PMC (nih.gov)
11. Therapeutic Effect and Mechanisms of Essential Oils in Mood Disorders: Interaction between the Nervous and Respiratory Systems – PMC (nih.gov)
12. Effects of a novel formulation of essential oils on glucose-insulin metabolism in diabetic and hypertensive rats: a pilot study – PubMed (nih.gov)
13. Effect of “Rose Essential Oil” Inhalation on Stress-Induced Skin-Barrier Disruption in Rats and Humans | Chemical Senses | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
14. Smelling lavender and rosemary increases free radical scavenging activity and decreases cortisol level in saliva – PubMed (nih.gov)
15. Effects of essential oil exposure on salivary estrogen concentration in perimenopausal women – PubMed (nih.gov)
16. Effects of essential oils on central nervous system: Focus on mental health – Lizarraga‐Valderrama – 2021 – Phytotherapy Research – Wiley Online Library