Do you feel overwhelmed trying to juggle working from home with constant distractions and interruptions?
All you have to do is inhale!
Essential oils can be powerful tools to help increase your focus, concentration and mental band-width to manage overwhelm. And they offer the easiest channel into the body. Your sense of smell, which is part of our olfactory system, is one of the most powerful channels into the body. In fact, olfactory cells are brain cells, and the olfactory membrane in the nasal cavity is the only place in your body where the brain is directly exposed to the environment.
Research shows that inhalation can be the most direct and effective method for using essential oils. The entire process from the initial inhalation of an essential oil to a corresponding response in the body can happen in a matter of seconds. Which means, the fastest way to calm overwhelm is to inhale essential oils. It’s so simple and so small that you can carry it in your pocket.
Essential oils can immediate calm anxiety and increase focus. Inhaled or topically applied essential oils can help increase blood flow to specific regions of your brain, like your pre-frontal cortex which helps enhance your focus and brain power and calm anxiety.
I want to share my favorite essential oil blend that I personally use before jumping on back to back Zoom meetings or when struggling to meet a big deadline that requires mental focus, while simultaneously juggling home schooling and parenting responsibility that require calmness and level headed function.
3 Essential Oils for Focus
1. Focus™
Formulated to enhance concentration and alertness, especially when applied over the forehead to the prefrontal lobe. Focus includes several individual oils that help keep the mind thinking clearly and focused on the task at hand. For example, research shows that 1.8-cineole, one of the main compounds in Rosemary essential oil, results in improved speed and accuracy on cognitive tests.
Similarly, research from the University of Cincinnati found that inhaling peppermint oil increases the mental accuracy by 28%.
Apply 1- 2 drops across brow, back of neck, collar bone or on temples and wrists to increase mental focus.
2. Attention™
Formulated by homeschooling parents specifically to assist with ADD and ADHD. The medical benefit of this oil was proven during research conducted by Dr. Terry S. Friedmann.Subjects with a confirmed ADD/ADHD diagnoses inhaled essential oils daily when they began to feel “scattered”. The inhalation of the oils improved brain wave patterns along with scholastic performance and behavioral patterns. Improvements in brain activity were revealed via electro-encephalograph (EEG), which measures electrical impulses moving through the brain.
The four oils in the Attention™ blend – Vetiver, Frankincense, Lavender, and Cedarwood — all showed substantial benefit, with Vetiver helping 100% of the test cases. The blend further synergizes the positive impact of the individual oils.
For best results, apply 1- 2 drops on brain stem (back of the neck), temples, across the forehead and the bottom of the feet.
3. Brain Boost™
Formulated with brain supporting oils, like Frankincense, Helichrysum, Cedarwood, and Melissa oils which contain a high concentration of sesquiterpenes that are known to cross the blood brain barrier and improve oxygenation of brain cells.
Apply 1- 2 drops on the back of the neck, on the temples, the bottoms of the feet and especially on the big toe.