When was the last time you consciously took some time for yourself? With the stress of everyday life, trying to balance all the balls between your professional and private life, a bit of self-care is easily forgotten. If you have a busy life, it might not fit your schedule to pamper yourself all night long. How wonderful would it be to have a way of de-stressing without having to drop everything for an entire day? Aromatherapy is used to reduce stress and feelings of anxiety and can transition your mood noticeably. If you’re interested in finding out more about aromatherapy and its effect on your brain’s limbic system, you will find the answers in this blog.

What is aromatherapy?

Aromatherapy is a form of holistic healing in which natural plant extracts are used to benefit your health and well-being. The great thing about aromatherapy is that it helps both your physical and mental health by using aromatic essential oils as medicine. Aromatherapy can work in different ways, including diffusers, candles, bathing salts, balms and body oils. There are many benefits, but a few of them include that aromatherapy:

• Manages pain
• Improves sleep quality
• Reduces stress and anxiety
• Fights bacteria, virus, or fungus
• Improves digestion
• Boosts immunity

What is your brain’s limbic system?

Maybe you’ve heard of it before, but chances are you haven’t. The limbic system is a small part of your brain that processes and collects memories, emotions and stimulations. Your brain’s limbic system is divided into various parts that all have their own functions. Memories are collected and associated with emotions in the amygdala, which is an extremely important part of your brain. The amygdala helps you to process a fun day and link positive feelings to it. The cingulate gyrus creates a thread between all different parts of the limbic system, which helps to transfer information and brain messages across the parts. 

It’s important to know what the function of the limbic system is as it makes up a large portion of our brain structure. Your brain’s limbic system can affect your daily life so you should know what positive changes can be made to it. 

How does aromatherapy affect your limbic system?

Aromatherapy is a long-used method of altering or enhancing our mood on a daily basis. As you’re using essential oils extracted from plants, this is a natural way to improve your mental health. It is important to be aware of how your body works in order to be able to improve it both physically and mentally. Aromatherapy is the fastest route for essential oils to enter your body. When you inhale the essential oils, the hairs inside your nostrils will absorb the molecules and send a signal into your brain’s limbic system. There are five ways in which aromatherapy changes our brain’s limbic system. 

1. Relaxation of your muscles

One thing aromatherapy helps with is the relaxation of the muscles in your body. Depending on which aroma you’re using, it can have a slightly different effect physically. If you’re using lavender oil for example, this will help your muscles to relax which in time helps you to fall asleep faster. SLEEP WELL Aromatherapy is perfect for winding down at the end of the day. 

2. Happy thoughts

Are you struggling to stay positive and could use a little pick-me-up? You can actually use aromatherapy to focus on positive thoughts, which is caused by a certain smell to trigger your limbic system to link memories and experiences to happiness. Use the HAPPY Aromatherapy Balm to uplift your feelings by using the smells of grapefruit, lemon and mint.

3. Boost concentration

Busy day at work ahead or are you studying for finals? Our concentration span tends to be quite short and that makes it difficult to stay focused for long periods of time. What if we tell you that you could use aromatherapy to enhance your concentration? Yes, by using the FOCUS Aromatherapy Balm, your limbic system will be stimulated by the scent of Rosemary, Mint and Clary Sage to boost concentration. 

4. Lower stress levels

Stress is detected by your brain’s limbic system as negative thoughts and tension in your body. This will cause problems both mentally and physically. Are you struggling with feelings of stress or anxiety? Help your body and mind to relax by using the DE-STRESS Aromatherapy Balm, which uses Chamomile to promote calmness and Neroli and Mandarin to help soothe tension.

5. Enhance emotional connection 

LOVE Aromatherapy Balm is a warm, romantic blend that will help you to feel more emotionally connected to others and enhance your sensuality. The aroma is made out of spicy citrus top notes of Orange and Clove, mixed with the heart-warming floral Rose and Jasmine. This scent will stimulate the part of your brain where emotional connectivity is made.