How to Use Aromatherapy’s Essential Oils to Improve Your Life

Feeling calmer and happier is at the tip of your nose: It’s just a matter of using your common scents.

Instructions

: Consult a doctor before using essential oils if you’re pregnant or nursing.
Step 1: Learn how to use oils Learn the various ways you can use essential oils. Put several drops on a tissue, cotton balls, or a handkerchief; add them to a pot of simmering water, a humidifier, or a diffuser; or make a scented mist by putting one cup of distilled water mixed with 10 drops of essential oil into a spray bottle.
TIP: You can reap similar benefits from the scent of flowers, fruit, and even candy.
Step 2: Get more done at work Get more done at the office with the scent of lemons. One Japanese company pumped a lemon scent through vents and found that employees made 54 percent fewer errors than those who toiled in an unscented room.
Step 3: Exercise longer Sniff some peppermint before you go to the gym. One group of exercisers who did felt less tired after a treadmill workout than those who didn’t.
Step 4: Be a better driver Drivers who got a whiff of strawberry while at the wheel drove better and less aggressively than motorists who didn’t, according to a study.
Step 5: Attract men Make yourself more attractive to men by scenting yourself or your surroundings with cinnamon. Research shows they love the smell.
Step 6: Reduce dental anxiety Take a sniff of orange or lavender oil before a root canal. A study showed it reduced anxiety and improved the moods of dental patients.
Step 7: Lift your mood Lift your spirits with a woodsy fragrance like cedar or pine. In one study, those who did felt more relaxed and carefree, and less depressed.
Step 8: Sleep like a baby Inhale jasmine before you go to bed for a better night’s sleep.
FACT: In France and Germany, some health-insurance programs pay for aromatherapy treatments.