Why Essential Oils are Essential to Your Well-Being
by Kristin Deiss
Looking for ways to boost your well-being? Love all things that smell good? You, my friend, are in need of some good aromatherapy. Check out the post below to read why essential oils are essential to your well-being and how Tspheres for Apolla are an excellent way to add them to your self-care routine.
What Are Essential Oils?
The better question to ask here might be, what aren’t essential oils?
Essential oils are experiencing quite a bit of popularity these days, and for good reason.
According to their fans (myself included), essential oils are everything. And what’s not to love?
They smell great, they help keep us healthy, and they even work to get rid of stains from my toddler’s very dirty wardrobe (thanks Seventh Generation laundry detergent). I mean, what don’t they do?
You might be wondering, “But, Kristin, what are essential oils according to science and why should we care?”
Excellent question.
Essential oils are oils extracted from plants. These extracted compounds carry with them that plant’s scent and their beneficial properties.
When either absorbed through the skin or inhaled through the use of aromatherapy, they are believed to have varying effects on the body, mind, and emotions.
How?
Through the connectivity of our body’s systems. When we inhale an essential oil aroma, those odors connect very quickly to the limbic system, and stimulate what is also known as our emotional brain, which helps to manage our emotional responses, eating and sleep behaviors, and the ways we learn and remember.
Stimulating the limbic system can also have physiological effects through its role in producing hormones that regulate heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing.
So, you can see how our sense of smell is deeply connected to our whole self, and can affect us, mind, body, and soul.
While the effects of essential oils are still a fairly new topic of research by scientists, their growing popularity continues to push these questions and conversations to the forefront as more and more people are interested in experiencing the benefits from these extracts.
How Should I Use Essential Oils?
There are numerous ways to use essential oils and invite their benefits into your daily routine.[i] They appear in soaps and lotions, in household cleaning products, and even in candles.
But while the most popular way to use essential oils is through aromatherapy and the use of diffusers, some researchers advise against doing so.
Why?
Because essential oils can affect everyone slightly differently, especially young children and those with pre-existing medical conditions.
So, to be safe, instead of diffusing oils in a space that could potentially reach multiple others, researchers at Johns Hopkins suggest using aromatherapy accessories. That way, users can direct scents with more precision.
Tspheres for Apolla – Aromatherapy-Infused Massage Balls
This is how Tspheres for Apolla can help you add essential oils to your self-care routine.[ii]
In addition to their ability to be used for acupressure, myofascial release, and trigger point massage (a post for another day), these massage balls are also infused with essential oils that help warm up the body as well as help the body recover.
And as aromatherapy accessories, where the user can more precisely direct the scent of the oils, they are also Johns Hopkins’ researcher approved!
So which essential oils made the cut?
Let’s take a look at each of the two sets.
The Tspheres for Apolla Warm-Up Set is infused with peppermint essential oil to refresh, energize, and help relieve pain.
While many oils tout those same benefits, peppermint oil is a game changer, as studies have shown that peppermint oil can enhance athletic performance.
Intrigued?
So was I.
One such study showed that the use of peppermint oil through aromatherapy can make physical tasks feel easier as well as the passage of time feel slower, thus creating more awareness of the task at hand.
The more aware you are, the better your perform.
In addition, research has also shown that inhalation of peppermint oil helps to increase both inhalation ability as well as lung capacity.[iii]
Keeping these discoveries in mind, I’d say that incorporating peppermint essential oil into your warm up routine through the Tspheres for Apolla Warm-Up Set would certainly help you perform at your best, whether you’re getting ready for a rehearsal, a yoga class, or a run.
Spoiler alert: speaking from experience, it does!
And after you’ve finished, make sure to use the Tspheres for Apolla Recovery Set. This set of massage balls are infused with eucalyptus and sweet basil to support your body’s much needed recovery.
The recovery set utilizes eucalyptus oil’s cooling aroma that is known to refresh the mind and promote relaxation and the magic of sweet basil which is said to soothe sore muscles and relieve tension.
And boy oh boy do they deliver.
Have you ever found your neck and shoulders rock hard after an overzealous yoga session in which you worked on your headstand for far longer than you should have?
Just me?
In any case, I could hardly move without wincing in pain. Using the Tspheres for Apolla Recovery Set helped me relax into the self-massage through the aromatherapy it provided. And the more I could relax, the more my muscles could melt under the pressure of the massage balls.
Suffice it to say I slept like a baby that evening.
Well, not my baby, he doesn’t sleep.
But you get the point.
Grab yourself a set of Tspheres for Apolla!
Now that you know why essential oils are essential to your well-being, make sure to grab yourself a set of Tspheres for Apolla. Your whole self, body and mind, will thank you.
What’s your favorite essential oil? I’d love to hear why which oils you love and the ways in which you use them. Drop me a line in the comment section below!
[i] Consult with your healthcare provider should you have any questions or concerns about using essential oils.
[ii] Disclosure- Although I received these products by Apolla Performance for free, all opinions are honest and fully my own.
[iii] Raudenbush, B., and P. Zoladz. "The effects of peppermint odor administration on lung capacity and inhalation ability." Washington: Seattle (2003).
Kristin Deiss is a dancer, educator, yogi, healer, and mom trying to live her best life through helping others improve theirs.
She holds an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and is a certified yoga teacher, Reiki Master, and Integrated Energy Practitioner.
Kristin is currently the Commercial Dance Chair at Hussian College Los Angeles and writes about overcoming failure on Stir the Sage. For inspiration, laughs, and cute pics of her toddler, follow her on Instagram.
