8 Soothing Essential Oils to Help Combat Stress

You can’t erase stress from your life, but you can use aromatherapy to help you cope with it naturally. Here are eight tension-taming essential oils with proven benefits.

- By Lisa Turner

It’s normal to experience occasional stress, anxiety, mood swings, and a lack of focus. But you don’t have to walk around feeling like a stress ball all the time. Natural essential oils can help ease stress, boost mood, and bolster your mental health. Some stress-busting essential oils can even help enhancing alertness and boost motivation.

Spritz, sniff, or soak your way to calm with these soothing selections.

1 LAVENDER

Derived from a flowering Mediterranean herb (Lavandula angustifolia), lavender oil is the best-known (and studied) essential oil for stress, anxiety, and sleep. Its main components, linalool, and linalyl acetate calm the nervous system. Research shows that inhaling lavender affects brain wave patterns in a way that eases anxiety and boosts mood. Lavender oil also increases slow-wave brain activity. This is linked to improved sleep quality and duration, and elevated vigor the following morning—even in people with insomnia. It’s especially effective when used with chamomile and neroli, and a combo of the three can powerfully lessen stress and enhance sleep.

How to use it: Sprinkle a few drops on your pillowcase for instant peace and restful slumber.

2 CLARY SAGE

Distilled from Salvia sclarea, a flowering herb native to the northern Mediterranean, clary sage reduces anxiety and improves mood. Its active chemical constituents appear to impact dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters associated with motivation, pleasure, and well-being. Studies show that inhaling clary sage essential oil lowers cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, while significantly increasing serotonin.