Useful essential oils help us fight fatigue and bad mood, diseases and cosmetic defects.
Peppermint essential oil, which is actively used in traditional medicine, is no exception.
How is it useful and how to use it correctly?
The main active ingredients
To get the essential oil, the green leaves of peppermint are treated in a special way. By steam distillation from plant materials, a clear greenish substance with a bright menthol odor is obtained. Indeed, menthol is the most active component of peppermint ether (about 50 percent in the composition).
However, the final product also contains other active substances with bactericidal, antiseptic, antifungal, anthelmintic properties:
• thymol;
• pinene;
• limonene;
• terpin.
The successful use of peppermint essential oil has made it one of the most popular home therapy and cosmetology products.
Properties of Peppermint Essential Oil
Mint tea has a calming effect. A similar effect on the psyche and emotional sphere of a person is exerted by peppermint oil. Properties of peppermint essential oil:
• stimulates the brain;
• helps to concentrate;
• improves attention;
• has both a calming and tonic effect (by the way, the harm from peppermint essential oil can be explained by just this duality);
• relieves stress.
People interested in energy note the ability of peppermint oil to improve mutual understanding between people, to arouse interest in new relationships, adventures.
However, the product is good in the therapeutic sense, as it can be used as a mild, natural medicine. In folk medicine, the following properties of peppermint essential oil are considered the most valuable:
• anti-inflammatory;
• antipyretic;
• painkiller;
• immunomodulatory;
• antispasmodic;
• antimicrobial;
• antiviral.
The benefits of peppermint essential oil are its ability to quickly and safely relieve headaches, dizziness, fainting, belching, and abdominal pain. It calms not only the nervous system, but also the skin, relieving inflammation, itching, redness. When used correctly, peppermint oil improves sleep, increases immune defense, and increases stress resistance.
Benefits of Peppermint Essential Oil
Esters are used in folk medicine and for therapeutic purposes. The use of peppermint essential oil allows you to include it in the treatment regimen of the following inflammatory and other diseases:
• flu, SARS, colds;
• tonsillitis, tonsillitis, bronchitis;
• diseases of the gastrointestinal system, manifested by spasms, constipation, indigestion, heartburn, and other disturbances in the digestive processes (peppermint oil stimulates the synthesis of enzymes necessary for normal digestion);
• inflammatory kidney disease;
• stones in the bile ducts (contributes to their dissolution);
• hypertension;
• asthenic syndrome (dizziness, nausea);
• rosacea.
In winter, during seasonal epidemics, a mint oil aroma lamp will help cleanse the air of harmful bacteria.
The use of peppermint essential oil is indicated for muscle cramps, painful periods, after heavy physical exertion. Oil helps to normalize blood circulation, so it copes with some types of headache. If motion sickness in transport, the fresh aroma of peppermint oil will help get rid of nausea and weakness.
Peppermint provides a wonderful refreshing effect in the composition of oral products. It is no coincidence that it is added to pastes and rinses. You can add a drop of ether to your toothpaste or plain water. It turns out a means for caring for the oral mucosa, which prevents caries, periodontal disease, stomatitis. Only allergy can become a contraindication to peppermint essential oil, especially if the product gets on the mucous membranes.
Using Peppermint Essential Oil in Home Cosmetology
Peppermint oil works great in cosmetology. It is used to treat acne and acne, to soften dry skin, especially if it itches and is generally very irritated. You can use the product to combat rosacea, as well as protection from low temperatures.
The beauty of peppermint is that it is suitable for any skin, including oily and acne. You can not apply any diluted essential oil to your face: add a drop of the product to a regular cream or prepare homemade tonics, lotions, and water-based compresses.
If the skin is flabby and tired, then masks with a mint-ether component will solve the problem as well as possible: tighten, refresh, prevent rosacea and the formation of subcutaneous acne. Preventively, they can be used to prevent early aging and pore cleansing.
Peppermint essential oil, added to a warm salt foot bath, will relieve fatigue and swelling, soften the skin, and relieve fatigue and heaviness. You can add 5 drops of ether to a regular bath to strengthen immunity, relieve tension, make skin softer and more tender.
Peppermint helps to solve some problems of the scalp: soothe itching, stop loss, make curls vibrant and shiny.
How to use Peppermint Essential Oil
The proper use of peppermint ether is very important. Dosages and uses for the products are as follows:
• from six to eight drops for aroma lamp (cleansing the apartment of the smell of tobacco and viruses during influenza epidemics, improving brain activity, improving performance);
• from seven to nine drops per bath filled with water (intestinal cramps, colds, varicose veins, cellulite treatment);
five to six drops per tablespoon of any massage (neuralgia, foot massage, muscle pain). The same composition using edible oil can be used for periodontal disease, bleeding gums, toothache;
• three drops in an inhaler for the treatment of colds or the same amount of oil in boiling water for hot inhalation over steam (breathe no more than five minutes);
• two drops per cup of warm water to prepare a home rinse aid.
For cold sores and acne, undiluted peppermint oil can be applied pointwise with a cotton swab.
If you urgently need to get rid of drowsiness, you can mix a drop of rosemary and mint and apply on whiskey.
Peppermint essential oil: harm and contraindications
When using ethers, you need to remember that an overdose will only do harm. Peppermint essential oil, for example, can cause headache, nausea, if you use more than the prescribed amount of the product. It is dangerous to exceed the dose of oil for inhalation to those who suffer from bronchial asthma. It is impossible for the product to enter the mucous membranes undiluted. It is especially important to protect your eyes.
Contraindications to peppermint essential oil:
• infancy (up to six years, pediatricians do not recommend using ethers to treat babies);
• pregnancy, breastfeeding;
• tendency to allergic reactions;
• hypotension (low pressure).
A reaction is considered normal when the skin after applying peppermint oil seems to cool slightly, there is a slight redness, a tingling sensation.
