If you’re interested in alternative medicines or therapies and are doing some research around the topics, then you’ll likely see a lot about essential oils. Supporters of essential oils claim a variety of benefits for our health and wellbeing, but there are also lots of people who claim them to be just a fad at best or so-called snake oil at worst. So, what’s the truth behind essential oils? Could they benefit you or are they just a waste of money?

What are essential oils?

Essential oils are simply compounds extracted from plants. They are derived from a wide range of plants, such as lavender, rosemary, cinnamon, lemon, and eucalyptus. Essential oils have pleasant scents and are commonly used in aromatherapy, but can be used by anyone at home by adding them to a hot bath, for example.

Claimed benefits of essential oils

So, what are the benefits of using essential oils? Their proponents claim a wide range of benefits, from reducing stress and anxiety to actually treating conditions such as migraines and insomnia. They are also thought to have some beneficial properties such as being anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antimicrobial effects.

Different essential oils are thought to have slightly different properties and benefits, so do some research into the different types if you are interested in essential oils.

Do essential oils really work?

The main thing to understand about essential oils is that the word ‘essential’ refers to the ‘essence’ of the plants being derived from, rather than ‘essential’ meaning vital or necessary. This is where some misconception arises around the topic, from advocates of essential oils claiming their use to literally be ‘essential’ to critics reporting them as hokum because they think these oils are being sold as ‘essential’.

But what about the benefits that essential oils are supposed to have? There are lots of reports of people experiencing positive effects from using essential oils, but actual scientific research on these effects is limited because it is difficult to control for any other variables as well as the possibility of a placebo effect. So, the reported effects may be exaggerated or may partly be down to the placebo effect, however, some people do enjoy positive effects from using essential oils.

Essentially, there’s no concrete answer as to whether essential oils work or not. So, if you’re interested in trying them, it may simply be a case of taking the plunge and seeing if you notice any benefits yourself. Or for other natural ways to manage stress, anxiety, pain, and sleep problems, you can try CBD oil or other high-quality CBD products from Yadkin Valley Organics.