People have always appreciated lavender for its soothing smell—but lavender does much more than just smell nice. That relaxing scent is packed with powerful botanicals that have major benefits for your physical and mental health!

Lavender’s Health Benefits and Uses

People around the world have been using lavender for its health benefits for thousands of years, and now modern science is catching up to traditional medicine and proving the power of lavender. These are just a few of the health issues lavender can help tackle:

Anxiety

Lavender’s soothing reputation has been backed up by scientific research, proving that lavender is an effective anxiolytic for many people—meaning it works to reduce anxiety. Tests studying the benefits of lavender essential oil aromatherapy showed that just breathing in the scent of lavender has been shown to lower signs of stress and anxiety in surgical patients, intensive care patients, postpartum women, and more. If lavender can help make a dent in anxiety during those high stress situations, it’s worth a try for your daily stressors!

In addition, multiple studies have looked at how effective lavender is as an oral medication and a multi-study review showed that Silexan, the most common lavender oil oral medication, was actually more effective in reducing anxiety than low doses of prescription anxiety medication.

Depression

Although lavender is most well-known for its effect on anxiety, there are other mental health benefits of lavender! Lavender is known to calm the nervous system, and studies are starting to show how that effect can help improve depression as well as anxiety. A study looking at the effect of lavender aromatherapy for older adults showed a reduction in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress both immediately after breathing in lavender and after a month of continued nightly use.

Sleep

Lavender might do the trick to stop you tossing and turning at night. Lavender is the most studied essential oil when it comes to sleep, and multiple studies show that diffusing lavender essential oil improves sleep quality. Orally administered lavender oil has been shown to improve sleep quality for patients with anxiety disorders. An added lavender scent benefit is that it helps you wake up feeling more refreshed—and we could all use that.

Headaches and Migraines

Another benefit of lavender essential oil is helping to reduce headaches and migraines! Headaches can range from annoying to debilitating, but multiple studies have shown that lavender aromatherapy can help to reduce headaches both in intensity and frequency. Lavender has an immediate effect on headaches, reducing their severity for at least 2 hours after breathing in lavender for just 15 minutes. Continued use over 30 days has been shown to reduce the severity of headaches and actually make them happen less often!

Menstrual Pain

Another incredible advantage of lavender is managing menstrual cramping and pain. Lavender essential oil aromatherapy has been shown to immediately reduce period-related pain—an effect that only gets stronger with continued use, significantly reducing pain after 2 months of consistent use during the subjects’ periods. Another study showed that using lavender oil topically also has the same soothing aromatherapeutic effect for reducing menstrual cramps.

Skin Soothing

Lavender has health benefits for skin too! It has a natural antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effect thanks to its high concentration of linalool. Topical lavender usage has been shown to soothe many different skin concerns. Lavender’s antibacterial properties help it fight acne-causing bacteria and soothe breakouts and prevent infections after burns. A review of 20 different studies showed that lavender essential oil helps speed up wound healing and increases collagen growth. Research shows even more benefits of lavender oil for skin, as it’s been shown to help soothe inflammatory skin conditions like psoriasis, dermatitis, and eczema.

Hair Loss

You can also benefit from bringing lavender up to your scalp because there are some promising results from using lavender oil for hair loss. One study showed that daily scalp massages with an essential oil blend containing lavender boosted hair growth in patients with alopecia areata. Another study done on mice had very impressive results, showing that plain lavender essential oil diluted in a carrier oil was almost as effective as Minoxidil in increasing hair growth!

How to Use Lavender for Your Health

Now that you know some of the health benefits of lavender, let’s talk about how you can put those advantages of lavender to work for you.

Lavender Aromatherapy

One of the easiest ways to take advantage of lavender’s health benefits for mental health and physical health is through aromatherapy. There are quite a few ways to get your lavender scents:

• Put a few drops of lavender essential oil in an essential oil diffuser

• Add a drop or two to your clothing to keep the scent close to you

• Spritz your space (or better yet, pillow) with a lavender room spray

• Light a lavender candle or keep a lavender sachet nearby

• Apply the scent right to your skin with a diluted lavender essential oil or lavender body lotion

Topical Lavender

To get the most from lavender’s benefits for skin and hair, you’ll have to apply lavender directly to your skin. Pure essential oils are strong and can irritate the skin, so make sure to always dilute lavender essential oils with a carrier oil before applying or get a pre-diluted mix designed to used on skin. Then all you have to do is massage in your lavender oil and enjoy the scent and the benefits for your body!

Note: Some people do report skin irritation from lavender products, but that typically only occurs if the essential oil has oxidized. To avoid any issues, try to keep any products with lavender essential oil in a cool, dark area, keep them as air-tight as possible, and use them when they are fresh.

Ingesting Lavender

Consuming lavender has been shown to offer some health benefits, but make sure to choose products carefully. Do not take essential oils orally without consulting a medical professional first. Essential oils are very concentrated and can upset the stomach and burn your mucosa if taken at an improper dose. Lavender essential oil supplements like Silexan have been formulated with a safe dosage of essential oils and can be an effective way to take therapeutic doses of lavender under the direction of your doctor.

If you want to enjoy the taste of lavender at doses that may be lower than studied therapeutic doses but are still delicious, there are many culinary uses of lavender! Try lavender in baked goods, a savory spice mix like herbes de Provence, or a soothing lavender tea. Remember, only the English varieties, or Angustifolias, are best for taste.

We can all take advantage of lavender’s health benefits and uses! Whether you’re looking to soothe your stress or find a solution for your headaches, lavender might just be the fix you’re looking for.

 

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From soothing anxiety to fighting acne, lavender is packed with powerful botanicals that have big benefits for your physical and mental health!