Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Calming Lavender

Lavender tea has a long history of calming nerves that are on edge.  It is particularly attuned to the brain to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression.  Lavender has the ability to improve mood and help you to get a good night's sleep.  It also has been used for headaches.  Lavender tea induces sweating, detoxifies the body, and reduces fevers.  Lavender comes from the Latin, lavare, meaning "to wash".  It is frequently added to bath products and shampoos.

During the 1920's, a French fragrance chemist named, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse severely burned his arm in an explosion in his laboratory.  In intense pain, he dipped his arm into the nearest liquid...a bowl of lavender oil.  Immediately the pain diminished and the burn healed quickly without scarring.  Gattefosse devoted the rest of his life to the study of essential oils and wrote a book, Aromatherapie, creating the term we use today.

Lavender oil is useful for all inflammations of the skip, but particularly burns.  It soothes the nervous system, useful for anger, hysteria, stress, irritability, exhaustion, anxiety, depression, or insomnia.  Essential oils are powerful, so remember to use only a couple of drops.  If you use too much it will give the opposite effect of causing a headache or keeping you awake in a restless state.  Lavender is one of the essential oils which may be put directly on the skin, but do not take internally.  Avoid lavender in the first trimester of pregnancy or if your blood pressure is extremely low.

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