Stress relief with “Relaxing and Soothing” essential oils
You might have heard or read something similar to this: “Ylang Ylang is a relaxing and soothing essential oil” This is a simplified explanation of complex events that occur in the body and mind. When that term is used for any essential oil, it usually has to do with a disruption to the central nervous system and its effects on the physical body.
What happens when we are “stressed.”
The brain is constantly trying to protect the body and optimise its functions. Anything that happens results from whatever signals get received and how they are interpreted.
When the brain perceives stimuli as a stress signal, it reacts in several ways to ensure the body is best adapted to face that threat. One of these reactions is the shallowness of breath to increase the heart rate and provides the muscles with the energy to “fight or flight “.
When stress is needed
This is a normal reaction; our survival may depend on it. Consider how quick you react without thinking if you suddenly find yourself in the path of a fast-moving car. Before you can even “think” about it, you are primarily likely jumping out of harm’s way! That is an appropriate stress response to an event perceived as a stress trigger. The stress response is meant to be a short-term quick call to action activated to protect the body. It should switch off and resume normal bodily functions shortly after that threat is deemed safe. You are crossing the road; you see a rushing car, and you jump out of harm’s way. Your heart will race a bit until you calm down, and then continue.
When stress becomes a problem
However, that is not what anyone talks about when saying they are “stressed”; they are likely referring to a prolonged chronic state of alertness that has not been switched off. In other words, your brain is still “seeing” a threat and sending out signals to the rest of the organs in your body to be on alert. This goes on for much longer than it should and adversely affects all kinds of things in your body. Stress can have a direct effect on your gut, your brain, your sleeping patterns and even pain and immune systems. Stress re-prioritises how your body reacts. If that response is out of proportion to the actual threat, stress becomes a significant issue that needs to be addressed.
During a period of heightened alertness, there is a shift in priorities inside the body.
The digestive system slows down because priority needs to be elsewhere; hence stomach aches and “butterflies” when nervous.
The immune system is altered because the body has better things to do than fight off an illness when life itself might be threatened. That is why stress can contribute to a compromised immune system. It also explains why you are more likely to catch a cold when stressed or find it hard to get over a cough when you refuse to stay home and relax to get over an illness.
Muscles tense up in preparation for possible action that might be needed. If this goes on for a long time, it can lead to headaches and muscle aches and even trigger migraines.
Cortisol levels are increased since we need to be awake and alert to face that “threat” this, in turn, affects sleep cycles and can lead to cognitive issues from lack of rest.
When stress is perceived, the brain signals the heart to increase its functions and beat faster to transport more oxygen to the lungs and provide blood to the muscles to “fight or flight “, raising the blood pressure to do so.
“Ylang Ylang is a relaxing and soothing essential oil”
Ylang ylang component of benzyl benzoate has been shown to block the interaction of Angiotensin II (a hormone that is part of blood pressure regulation) with its receptors(2). The effect of that disruption is a decrease in pulse rate, breathing rate and blood pressure (1). In doing so, the body signals a shift and a downgrade of the “threat” level perceived earlier. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, commonly known as “rest and digest”. This tells the body it’s okay to resume normal functions and go about activities without being alert to any threat or danger.
Traditional healers would have observed the calming and relaxing properties of ylang ylang in their formulations and passed it down as a remedy for certain conditions. Knowing the science behind these claims and proof of vague terms such as “soothing” or “relaxing” adds credibility to the intuitive part of aromatherapy. It also opens up more investigative avenues for essential oils that might not have been tested yet, if we know that they share specific chemical components that have gone through experiments.
