Adaptogen Essential Oils Help Hormone Imbalance
Hormone imbalance is a reality for many women and even men in today’s world.
One reason for the increased hormone imbalance people experience today is the increased presence of chemical toxins and stress in our day to day lives. These are two of the biggest causes of hormone imbalance overall.
With so many people facing the physical and emotional impact of hormone imbalance having tools available to bring our bodies back into balance is very valuable.
One such tool is super essential oils. Here is an explanation of what makes these oils so super and one combination to help with adrenal balance.
Super Essential Oils
There’s a super-group of essential oils called adaptogens. These smart essential oils are unique because they have opposing healing properties like being both stimulating and relaxing — they adapt to your needs.
The use of adaptogen essential oils are pivotal for hormonal imbalances where glands may be under-functioning in one system, while over-functioning in another. Adaptogenic essential oils are capable of balancing opposing conditions without creating further imbalance, as many pharmaceuticals would cause. Using them together further strengthens their healing properties.
Adrenal Balance with Basil, Lavender and Anise
Your adrenal glands are responsible for how you cope with stress. If you’re trying to juggle a job, family and the demands of everyday life, you are likely to have overworked adrenals.
Cortisol, the “stress hormone” is produced by the adrenal glands and regulates your body’s response to stress. It works on a schedule — good sleep, starting at 10 pm, maximizes adrenal hormone function. Out of balance cortisol levels lead to:
feeling exhausted upon waking even after a long night’s sleep
high energy late in the evening or waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning
an inability to calmly deal with stress
food cravings
brain fog
Basil essential oil increases the body’s natural response to both physical and emotional stress while conditioning you to cope better.
According to a study published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine,scientists examined the effects of daily basil extracts on stress symptoms in men and women over six weeks. 39% of patients showed a decrease in general stress symptoms, such as sleep problems, exhaustion, and forgetfulness.
Basil essential oil soothes feelings of anxiety, overwhelm and exhaustion. Rub a couple of drops of high quality organic basil oil (such as this bottle from Plant Therapy) diluted in a carrier oil daily into your forearms or your ear’s adrenal gland point at the tragus (the cartilage above your ear lobe) to bring balance to your adrenals.
Life is demanding — the key to adrenal balance is to allow yourself more restorative relaxation time and sleep.Improve the quality of your sleep with lavender aromatherapy.
A study by the Department of Psychology of Wesleyan University, Connecticut found that the aromatherapeutic use of lavender increased the percentage of deep, restorative, slow-wave sleep in all men and women. Make an essential oil mist of lavender and water in a spray bottle and spray the mixture on your pillow before bedtime to enhance deep sleep. Add anise oil to the lavender mist to amplify the restful qualities of both oils.
Essential Oils for Healthy Estrogen and Progesterone Levels
Women of any age can face hormone imbalance when it comes to their estrogen or progesterone levels. Today we see how Clary Sage and Thyme can help balance out these two important female hormones.
Clary Sage:
Clary sage is perhaps one of the best known essential oils for helping with hormone balance. It helps to balance out estrogen levels, which is helpful especially leading up on one’s period where estrogen levels naturally drop (sometimes too sharply). It can also be a great help in relieving the cramps associated with periods since it helps to relax smooth muscle, and no doubt it is calming for the nervous system and helps to promote sleep (I love combining clary sage with bergamot, cedar wood, and geranium in this context). Clary sage can be diffused, but I like it applied topically over the lower abdominal area.
Thyme:
I never used to think of thyme for hormones as much as countering infectious threats and supporting healthy immune response, but thyme definitely has it’s place in healthy hormones! It can support normal progesterone levels, and drops in progesterone are one of the key causes of PMS-type symptoms including grumpiness and irritability; also declining progesterone is also a hallmark of peri menopause which starts for most women in her 40’s and can cause heightened PMS, mood changes and shorter/ less regular menstrual cycles. – The Naturopathic Mama
Have you ever tried using essential oils to help with hormone imbalance?