The Effects of Stress on our Well-Being
April is ‘Stress Awareness Month’, an annual event observed since 1992. The aim of highlighting this issue is to provide a gentle reminder for us all to slow down, breathe deeply and take care of our mental and emotional well-being. Workplace stress is reaching record levels, with 1 in 4 people feeling unable to cope with the increased stress and pressure placed on them, with signs of burnout, exhaustion, anxiety and depression all too common. In today’s fast-paced world, stress can also creep in unnoticed, affecting our sleep, mood and overall health. That’s why dedicating time to self-care isn’t just a luxury – it’s essential!
Stress isn’t simply about feeling overwhelmed. Chronic stress can impact our heart, immune system, blood pressure, hormones as well as our mental clarity. Stress impacts each of us in different ways so it’s important to pause, reflect and recognise how any signs of overload are impacting us personally. Recognizing symptoms, such as irritability, difficulty concentrating or physical conditions such as headaches and muscular tension (especially in the shoulders and neck) is vital – then it’s important to take proactive steps towards re-establishing a greater sense of balance and relaxation into our daily lives.
How Aromatherapy Can Help Stress-Related Conditions
Aromatherapy has a well-established reputation as being one of the most useful natural therapies for dealing with stress-related conditions. It help us to reconnect with a sense of calm and clarity on an emotional level by improving our mood and self-confidence, but it can also help to combat a whole range of physical symptoms due to the specific bio-chemical makeup of individual essential oils.
Aromatherapy is especially effective for stress related issues because essential oils interact with our body, emotions and mind simultaneously.
Essential oils are therefore unique therapeutic agents, since they not only exert their effects on a physical, physiological and psychological level but also on an emotional and spiritual level by absorption through application via our skin – as a body oil or through massage – but also via the olfactory tract, through our sense of smell and the limbic system.
Research has shown that massage releases the hormone serotonin that enhances the body and mind’s ‘feel good’ state, and it also increases delta wave frequency in our brains, which is closely associated with a deep sense of relaxation, restfulness and sleep. An aromatherapy massage treatment is therefore a very effective method of combatting the symptoms of stress, both at a physical and emotional level.
How to incorporate the benefits of essential oils into our daily routine at home:
- Aromatic Diffuser: Simply add 5 – 7 drops of your chosen essential oil (or a blend) to a diffuser or oil burner to create a serene environment.
- Massage: For a relaxing blend, use 3 – 5 drops of essential oil per 15ml of carrier oil, such as sweet almond oil jojoba, then gently massage into any areas of tension.
- Warm Bath: Add up to 10 drops of essential oil to the bath once it is full, agitate the water to help disperse the oils, before relaxing in the aromatic steam.
- Uplifting Scent: Apply a few drops of a soothing oil to your wrist as a pulse point perfume (such as our 5% rose of neroli oil) while out and about during a busy day.
Elevate Your Everyday with Botanical Scents
Recognising and honouring our interdependence with nature is a key to re-establishing a meaningful relationship with ourselves and with our environment. Direct interaction with nature via aromatherapy and the use of botanical scents and essential oils can be a grounding force in the midst of the ups and downs of our daily lives – it literally brings us down to earth and reminds us that we are a part of the natural world.
Aromatherapy provides a nurturing, natural way to incorporate pleasurable self-care rituals into our daily life to create moments of enjoyment and calm in a whole range of simple and practical ways. Some of my favourite stress-relieving essential oils include:
- Lavender: our most popular relaxing oil, especially to aid sleep
- Bergamot: one of the best oils to counter anxiety and depression
- Neroli: an exquisite perfume (available as 5% oil) to relieve stress on the go
- Vetiver: the ‘oil of tranquilly’ having a pronounced calming, grounding effect
- Frankincense: this oil helps slow the breathing – also valuable for meditation
- Chamomile: a classic, sweet and soothing gentle oil, also suitable for children
- Rose: a rich and heart-warming scent to bring comfort and relieve distress
If you want to find out more about different ways to use individual essential oils and their specific properties, I recommend our ‘Blending Notebook’ as a basic introduction – or my video series ‘An Introduction to Home Aromatherapy’ available on our website.
Renewing our Relationship with Nature
Over the past few years, including in my book ‘The Botanical Home’, I’ve written about how our diminished relationship with nature is having a damaging effect on our health and on the health of the planet. It’s now recognised that our disconnectedness from nature lies at the heart of the environmental crises today. Why? Because when people feel disconnected from nature, they’re less likely to care for it. According to a recent research study:
“The underlying causes identified by the report include the ‘disconnection of people from nature’ … where human-nature connectedness is recognised as a powerful strategy for transformative change.”
The report reveals a steep decline in nature connectedness from 1800 to 2020. In the UK, people spend only around 7% of their time outdoors, and only half of that in urban settings. The most significant factor in this decline is the lack of intergenerational transmission: as parents lose their connection to nature, so their children grow up with a further reduced connection.
Urbanisation, intergenerational change and the erosion of experiencing the healing effects of nature in our lives have all taken a toll on our well-being… but it’s also a story of hope because transformative action and the power of individual choice can turn things around. Once disconnection sets in, it becomes self-reinforcing – but the same is true in reverse: once enough people begin to reconnect, the system can tip toward restoration. And nature connectedness has also seen a resurgence in consumer awareness in recent years with a preference for botanical and organic products.
Since aromatherapy products are all 100% natural being derived from plants, this is a wonderful way to directly experience the natural world wherever you are!