Enjoy the Scents of the Season

by karen on November 30, 2018

When we realize how many scents we associate with the holiday season, it’s interesting to think about their roles in our holidays past. What aroma brings you home for the holidays more than the unforgettable smell of a freshly cut Christmas tree? Or mulled cider? Maybe freshly baked sugar cookies? Smell is the sense most closely tied to memory, and it seems that we all have at least one scent that pulls us straight back to this wonderful time of year.

If we’re trying to avoid too many cookies or cannot be home with the tree, sipping cider, there’s a simple tool to take those fragrances with us: essential oils. Aside from smelling sublime and conjuring up favorite memories of the season that put us in the holiday spirit, essential oils also offer many therapeutic benefits.

Therapeutic Benefits of Essential Oils

Protection from Daily Assaults

Life can get complicated, and factoring in the added stressors—both positive and negative—that come with the holidays, we would do well to remember that we need to stay healthy. Essential oils have the potential to affect every cell of the body within 20 minutes when diffused through the air, applied to pulse points, or inhaled directly from the bottle. If you need a quick pick-me-up to energize yourself for the upcoming gift shopping, if you get to feeling like there’s not enough time in the season to accomplish everything you’d like to, or if it’s time to unwind for bed, there’s an oil for that.

Powerful Antioxidant Properties

Essential oils are super efficient at neutralizing free radicals, which cause oxidative stress when they outnumber antioxidants. Consequences of oxidative stress include damage to DNA and tissues that triggers a number of diseases. Essential oils help the body fight damage and prevent disease.

Immune System Support

Many essential oils have antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-infectious properties. Many have been shown to destroy harmful bacteria and viruses, while simultaneously providing immune system support. Since we tend to be indoors more during the winter holidays, we can protect ourselves from those around us who may be ill with the use of essential oils.

Detoxification

Essential oils can support the liver in detoxifying the blood by inducing enzyme activity that improves on the removal of toxins from the body. Rosemary oil in particular has been shown to be therapeutic to the liver. So, whether you’ve over-imbibed on holiday beverages or simply want to protect from the myriad environmental assaults we face each day, essential oils come to the rescue.

Mood Adjustment

The capacities for both smell and emotion are rooted in the same network of brain structures, the limbic system. The olfactory center also interacts directly with the hippocampus, a brain area involved in the formation of new memories. No other senses have this kind of deep access.  Relax with calming oils like lavender and vetiver, focus with peppermint, and energize with citrus. We’ll be focusing future blogs on mood therapy with essential oils.

Essential Oils to the Rescue this Holiday Season

Holiday Peace and Holiday Joy

doTERRA has two wonderful holiday blends to bring back the nostalgia and keep you healthy this season, both of which have a Christmas tree fragrance lended from several fir extracts. Holiday Joy also includes orange, clove and cinnamon—some of the same oils in the Protective blend, On Guard. The ancient, biblically famous Frankincense makes Holiday Peace not only delightful to the nose, but great for combating brain fog and mental fatigue. For either of these wonderful oils or for the DIY recipe, go to my doTERRA website: www.mydoterra.com/karenafisher

Do-It-Yourself Essential Oil Holiday Recipe

To the Woods

  • 4 drops Fennel
  • 3 drops Cypress
  • 3 drops Wild Orange   

Add oils to 10 ml roller bottle. Top with fractionated coconut oil to just below neck of bottle. Attach roll-on cap and lid

Karen Fisher, MS, RDN, CDE is a dietitian in Reno, Nevada, happily promoting the benefits of healthy foods at her nutrition consulting firm, Nutrition Connection. Find her website at www.NutritionConnectionNV.com

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