Warming Essential Oils For Colder Months

Throughout the winter months, there are times when we can all feel a little low. The drop in temperature and reduced daylight hours can make us feel flat and lacking in energy. We naturally feel the need to stay indoors, keep warm and reserve our energy.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is thought to be the result of a lack of exposure to natural light during the dark winter months. This can change our hormone levels, causing low moods, craving comfort food, interruptions in sleep patterns and depleted energy.

Using essential oils can be a simple but effective way to beat the winter blues. Citrus, floral and woody essential oils work particularly well at this time of the year.

Essential oils can awaken your dulled senses and lift your spirits during the gloomy weather, and since many of them are antibacterial and antiviral they can help fight off winter ailments too. This is where aromatherapy becomes the perfect tonic for the winter season.

The Effects of Essential Oils in Colder Weather 

Cold feet and hands? Warming essential oils such as black pepper, cardamom, clove bud, ginger, juniper berry, marjoram and rosemary are just right for you.

As well as being warming and stimulating, they’re also great at easing those everyday aches and pains such as a stiff back, which always feels much worse during the winter months. Try using them in a massage, after an essential oil bath, it’s one of the nicest (and laziest) ways to enjoy aromatherapy during the cold winter months.

Citrus essential oils have associations with sunshine and summer, floral scents are linked with pleasure and euphoria and wood essential oils can help to give us strength and purpose. Recommended essential oils from these categories would be bergamot, geranium and frankincense.

A few drops of this blend in a diffuser or even inhaled from a tissue will create a fragrant atmosphere and gently help to improve your mood. Before you know it Spring will be just around the corner.

My Essential Oil Recommendations

I recommend Stress Less Body Oil, scented with geranium, bergamot, ylang ylang and rosewood. Or specially blended Massage Balms such as Eucalyptus, Black Pepper & Rosemary or Ginger, Spike Lavender & Sweet Marjoram. Your dry, parched winter skin will soak up this rich balm, leaving your skin soft and silky smooth.

My Muscle Ease Bath Soak is infused with warming essential oils of ginger, spike lavender and marjoram. There’s also my stress-busting, pain-relieving, body-warming vegan shower gels containing essential oils sure to warm you up from head to toe. 

Creating your own Aromatherapy Blends

If you’d rather create your own aromatherapy blends, here are some great choices;

• Rosemary essential oil is warming, stimulating and good for treating cold extremities, cold and flu symptoms and aches and pains.
• Sweet Marjoram essential oil is both relaxing and warming. Its analgesic properties are useful in treating muscular pains.
• Black Pepper essential oil is a hot and drying oil and is suitable where there is coldness and depleted energy. Its warming properties make it particularly useful in treating respiratory conditions – coughs and colds. It acts as a stimulant to the circulatory system to treat poor circulation and cold hands and feet.
• Ginger essential oil is excellent as a warming massage oil. Ginger encourages the body to produce heat and sweat and throw off fevers while acting as an expectorant.

Choose 3 oils from this list and add 2 drops of each to 10ml of your chosen carrier oil (such as sweet almond). Rub your blend vigorously into your frosty fingers, feet or wherever you’re feeling cold and you will feel a warm glow spread throughout your body as your circulation gets moving.

Or you could just treat yourself to my specially formulated cold feet remedy; my Ginger & Rosemary Foot Cream. Nourishing plant oils help to keep feet beautifully soft, while ginger essential oil warms your tootsies and rosemary helps to keep them pain-free. If you're looking for more vegan skincare with essential oils, look no further.

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