The US Congress has given tribute to the 1990s for the amazing breakthroughs in brain-based studies and research in that decade. They named the 1990’s the Decade of the Brain. In those 10 years alone, scientists in the United States and around the world learned more about neurology and how the brain works than in the previous entirety of human history.
About the same time, the allopathic medical community was beginning to change its formerly negative opinion on a holistic, nature-based healing practice which has been used for thousands of years.
Research on how the brain works and how essential oils cross the blood to brain barrier has proven in the late 20th and early 21st century that certain essential oils can positively impact how the brain works. Since your brain influences so many bodily functions and internal processes, this means the correct application of specific essential oils can improve your life in many significant ways. In this special health and wellness report, the link between essential oils and brain health is discussed.
Essential oils (EOs) are created by removing the oils from plant material. This results in a very volatile, concentrated liquid. Consider that more than 200 pounds of lavender flowers are required to generate just 1 pound of lavender essential oil. Because of this incredible concentration of the very essence the lavender flower and other types of flowers and plants, only 2 or 3 drops of the resulting oil can be incredibly powerful.
The information given below is evidence-based and science-backed, and reveals those essential oils which can help improve and manage your mood and emotions, treat conditions such as vertigo and migraine headaches, stress and anxiety, and other health conditions influenced by the brain.
What is the Brain?
The brain is a complex organ, one of the largest in the human body. Your brain contains over 100 billion nerves, and the premier job of most of those nerves is to communicate with the rest of your body. It does this through connections known as synapses that work with your central nervous system (CNS). The CNS contains the spinal cord and your brain. Your peripheral nervous system (PNS) is a network of nerves, a neural system. The CNS and PNS work together to regulate, control and dictate virtually everything you do, and they are extremely dependent upon a healthy brain.
Your brain is composed of 3 major areas Ð the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. The cerebrum, thalamus, and hypothalamus make up your forebrain, and your midbrain includes the tectum and tegmentum. The cerebellum, pons and medulla comprise the hindbrain.
The largest part of your brain is the cerebrum, concerned with controlling your thinking and acting, and it is made up of the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes. Those lobes deal with emotions and problem solving, planning and memory, speech and movement, visual processing, recognition and emotions. As such, your cerebrum can be highly influenced by natural essential oils proven to improve those functions and processes.
Because of the way your brain works with the rest of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system, it is responsible for giving “marching orders” to your entire body. Everything you think and do, every function that happens automatically and consciously, all your 5 senses, your emotions, health, metabolism, digestion, speech, memory and how you act and feel are influenced by your brain health.
When attempting to use essential oils proven to boost mental health and brain-based processes, it is essential to understand how these natural oils get the approval of your brain’s natural “friend or foe” identification system.
What is Role of the Blood Brain Barrier?
A barrier is anything that restricts access. That simple white picket fence on the borders of your front yard doesn’t look very imposing. Even so, it acts as a barrier to your property. Though it is more a mental influence than a substantial physical barrier, it marks a specific border to let people know where they are and are not allowed without permission, regarding your home and your yard.
The blood brain barrier (BBB) operates in much the same way. Without using a lot of medical and scientific terminology that is more confusing than enlightening, suffice it to say that the blood brain barrier restricts the passage of substances and chemicals from your bloodstream into your brain. It does this by controlling the movement of chemicals, fluids and other substances from your general blood circulation as well as in the cellular fluid which surrounds your brain.
Your blood-brain barrier influences not only what can get into your brain, but also the volume of the chemicals and substances it lets through. In this way, it influences not only the health and functioning of your brain, but your entire nervous system, which is influenced and heavily regulated by your brain.
Consider the BBB the selective bodyguard manning the velvet rope at a posh and popular nightclub. It decides what does and does not get into your brain’s sensitive and influential environment. This gatekeeper is made up of endothelial cells which do not have such restrictive properties in the circulatory system outside of the brain.
The endothelial cells of the blood brain barrier allow glucose, proteins and other needed substances through its screening process, while keeping out those things it believes are harmful to mental function.
How Do Essential Oils Permeate the BBB?
You can get something pass the blood brain barrier one of three ways:
1 – You can disguise a substance as something the BBB recognizes as good for your brain.
2 – You can present something that is actually helpful for your brain.
3 – Or, you present a substance which easily passes this barrier because of its extremely small size and lipid profile.
Let’s take a look at which one of these methods natural essential oils use to get past your brain’s defensive front line.
The oils taken from the essence of plant material are what biologists, neurologists and physical health experts refer to as physiologically active. That means they have an active influence on the human body. They have an active impact on not only the surface of cells, but also the interior of those cells. Like the BBB protects your brain, each one of your cells has an exterior membrane which works as a similar restrictor, deciding what does and does not have access to the cell it protects.
The membrane surrounding your cells is full of receptors. These receptors tirelessly receive requests from anything and everything they come into contact with, and then decide whether a substance is allowed to pass through the cellular membrane, thus triggering processes and modifications which dictate how cells function. When a substance is constructed in a particular way, it displays properties which are immediately accepted by the restrictive membranes surrounding the cells in your blood-brain barrier.
The BBB does not waste any time actively profiling these types of substances, since they are built to automatically pass through the cellular membrane. Essential oils, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other chemicals and substances have this passive property of acceptance built-in. This is because of the extremely small size of the molecules which make up essential oils, and a process called “lipid solubility”.
The cellular membrane which acts as a border to each of your individual cells is made up of lipids. The extremely small molecular size of the soluble lipids in essential oils is due to sesquiterpene components, which means instant access to and influence on your cells.
In other words, essential oils have a very similar construction to the membrane protecting your cells, so they easily and automatically pass the blood brain barrier, without an active review and approval process.
Combined with the incredible density and volatility of essential oils, this no-questions-asked, automatic, VIP access to your brain can quickly deliver positive health results via influence on your brain and nervous system.
Common Mental Health Conditions Positively Influenced by Essential Oils
As many as 5,000 years ago, essential oils were used for the relief of stress and anxiety. These are two mental properties which are directly influenced by your brain and nervous system. Give your brain the right kind of message, delivered by specific essential oils, and it dictates the release and regulation of hormones and chemicals which boost positive, peaceful, moods and emotions, while minimizing the presence of hormones which lead to mental and physical stress.
In addition to stress-relief, frankincense, sandalwood and other mental health boosters can positively affect the following brain-based health conditions:
- Clarity of thought
- Vertigo
- Mood regulation
- Migraines
- Focus and concentration
- Sleep patterns
- Depression
- Memory recall
- Brain fog
- Hormonal balance
- Emotional stability
- Dementia, Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders
Essential Oils that Support Healthy Brain Functions
Sandalwood
Sandalwood oil has a sweet and “woodsy” smell, evoking thoughts of nature and the great outdoors. It is used frequently in cosmetics and perfumes, as well as men’s aftershave and cologne. It blends effortlessly with other essential oils, and has been used in religious and cultural ceremonies in India and other Eastern nations for centuries.
The Sandalwood essential oil considered of the highest quality comes from the Indian Santalum Album tree, and sandalwood trees found in Australia and Hawaii are also used to make essential oil. Because of the unfortunate practices used to harvest sandalwood oil, these trees are becoming nearly extinct in some places. This has driven up the price of sandalwood oil in recent years, which is a shame, because this powerful EO is used to treat cancer, inflammation and mental health in aromatherapy circles.
Sandalwood oil can be used topically or aromatically to improve mental clarity, boost memory, calm and soothe, and decrease high levels of stress and anxiety.
Frankincense
Frankincense oil was so revered in biblical times that it was used as a high-value currency. Developed from the sap of the Boswellia Sacra and Boswellia Carterii trees, frankincense essential oil is used for modern-day medicinal and ceremonial purposes, and has been for several millennia. This oil is effective for delivering messages directly to the limbic system of the brain, which influences the entire nervous system.
As such, frankincense is a great stress reliever, helps regulate emotional response, and balances hormone levels which lead to relief from headaches and cramps, constipation and nausea, fatigue, mood swings and physical pain.
Cedarwood
The cedar tree is associated with wisdom in many cultures. Sesquiterpenes (remember that word from earlier?) like cedrol and alpha-cedrene, thujopsene and beta-cedrene help promote clarity and focus, a clear thinking process, stress-relief and improved mental function.
The powerful ability of cedarwood oil to fight inflammation means multiple nervous system benefits, and a lower likelihood of inflammation of the brain, which can lead to multiple physical and mental disorders.
Clove
Clove oil has a warming, stimulating effect. It boosts metabolism, a complex process which is influenced by your mental health. The spicy, warm characteristics of clove oil include antiviral and antifungal, antiseptic and antimicrobial properties. Clove oil can be found in dental health products such as toothpaste and mouthwash, and the clove itself comes from the evergreen clove tree.
A popular essential oil in ancient Chinese and Indian medicinal practices, clove oil improves the quantity and quality of blood which circulates to your brain. It effectively treats headaches and lowers stress and anxiety, and is commonly used as a treatment for depression and insomnia.
Thyme
Thyme oil is an effective memory and recall booster. It has multiple uses in the kitchen, but also acts as a natural stress reliever. As it helps your brain regulate hormonal balance, it is often used in holistic, natural healing practices to regulate moods and emotions.
With a noticeable woody, leafy aroma, this herb used in Mediterranean, French and Italian recipes. It is an effective antidepressant and since it helps improve metabolism and blood circulation, it positively influences the amount and quality of the blood that reaches your brain.
Rosemary
Rosemary oil is a versatile essential oil. Used as an herb for cooking purposes, rosemary pairs well with pork and chicken dishes. As a mental healer, the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks used the rosemary herb and its woody fragrance for both healing and ceremonial purposes.
One study reported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM) showed that, “… brain wave activity, autonomic nervous system activity, as well as mood states are all affected (positively) by the inhalation of rosemary oil.”
Accordingly, rosemary essential oil helps to improve and manage mood and emotions, it stimulates blood circulation and detoxifies the blood that goes to your brain and throughout your body, relieves stress and boosts memory.
Brain-Based Health Conditions Influenced by Essential Oils
The following diseases and disorders all have a basis in mental influence. When you positively impact your brain health with the essential oils listed below, their corresponding health concerns also improve.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Clove, Coriander, Frankincense, Lemon, Melissa, Sandalwood, Thyme, and Vetiver.
Parkinson’s
Basil, Bergamot, Clary Sage, Clove, Cypress, Frankincense, Geranium, Helichrysum, Jasmine, Juniper Berry, Lemon, Marjoram, Peppermint, Rosemary, Wild Orange, Vetiver, and Thyme.
Autism
Basil, Bergamot, Clary Sage, Frankincense, Geranium, Peppermint, Rosemary, and Vetiver.
Memory and Focus
Clove, Frankincense, Ginger, Rosemary, Peppermint, and Sandalwood.
Balance/Equilibrium/Dizziness
Arborvitae, Frankincense, Lavender, Spearmint, and Rosemary.
The benefits of the above-mentioned EOs cannot be overstated. For instance, Alzheimer’s is the 6th most common cause of death in the United States. This and other serious health problems can benefit greatly from the topical and aromatic applications of specific essential oils.
In Closing
There are over 400 types of oils taken from plants which are currently used for medicinal and therapeutic purposes. In the healing world of aromatherapy, there are roughly 90 essential oils used to prevent and treat mind, emotion and body-based health problems, from cancer to Alzheimer’s, and obesity to heart disease.
Many of the brain-boosting nervous system influencing essential oils just listed have multiple uses in the kitchen, and promote physical health and overall well-being.
