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Cinnamon Essential Oil Benefits and Uses in Aromatherapy

"Love, in all its many guises, speaks through cinnamon," writes aromatherapist Valerie Ann Worwood in Aromatherapy for the Soul. She also says that the emotional benefits of cinnamon essential oil are to encourage invigoration, benevolence, strength, energy, confidence, motivation, and generosity.

Aromatherapy supplies and cinnamon tree with the words Guide To Cinnamon Essential Oil Benefits and Uses.

Know Your Cinnamon

True cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) is a shrub or small tree native to Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon). This cinnamon is also called Cinnamomum zeylanicum or Ceylon cinnamon.

Essential oils are distilled from both tree bark (cinnamon bark essential oil) and leaves (cinnamon leaf essential oil). The two oils have different chemical compositions. The bark oil contains a high percentage of cinnamaldehyde and a small amount of eugenol. The leaf oil has more eugenol with a small amount of cinnamaldehyde.

Another species of cinnamon is Cinnamomum aromaticum (also called Cinnamomum cassia, cassia, Chinese cinnamon, or false cinnamon). Like cinnamon bark essential oil, cassia essential oil contains a large amount of cinnamaldehyde. Do not confuse cassia with cinnamon, as the oils have different properties and uses.

Cinnamon bark essential oil is strong and some aromatherapy sources recommend avoiding it in favor of the leaf oil. However, other sources recommend the bark oil as more effective. Keep in mind that both oils can sensitize and irritate skin, so use them with care. Even a strong diffusion of cinnamon may irritate the mucous membranes of the nasal passages and eyes.

Basic Cinnamon Facts

Plant family: Lauraceae.

Production: Steam distilled from the leaves or bark of the cinnamon tree. The bark oil costs more than the leaf oil because distilling bark yields less oil than distilling leaves.

Aroma: Warm, pungent, earthy, spicy. The leaf oil tends toward a sharper, more herbal scent than the bark oil.

Perfume/Aromatic note: Base to middle.

Is cinnamon essential oil safe to use during pregnancy? No.

Is cinnamon essential oil safe for children? Some sources recommend not using cinnamon with children under age 10.

Main components:

Bark Oil

(E)-Cinnamaldehyde 63.1–75.7%
Eugenol 2.0–13.3%
(E)-Cinnamyl Acetate 0.3–10.6%
Linalool 0.2–7.0%

Leaf Oil

(E)-Cinnamaldehyde 0.6–1.1%
Eugenol 68.6–87.0%
(E)-Cinnamyl Acetate 0.8–4.6%
Linalool 2.0–5.0%

Source: Essential Oil Safety, 2nd Ed.

Cautions:

Cinnamon is a strong oil that can irritate skin. For skin use, Essential Oil Safety suggests using cinnamon bark at no stronger than a 0.07% dilution (1 drop in 7 teaspoons carrier oil) and using cinnamon leaf at no stronger than a 0.5% dilution (1 drop in 1/2 teaspoon carrier oil). Spot testing recommended.

Cinnamon bark oils may be adulterated with cinnamon leaf or cassia. Read labels: I saw a company on Amazon selling a product labeled cinnamon bark, but when I read the details, I found it was actually Cinnamomum cassia. The two are not the same.

Aromatherapy for Health Professionals suggests avoiding cinnamon bark oil if you have a liver condition or alcoholism or when taking acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol). The reason is cinnamaldehyde may deplete glutathione, an antioxidant the liver uses to help break down toxins for removal from the body.

Cinnamon Essential Oil Benefits

Cinnamon bark has a strong "fire" energy that supports courage, transformation, releasing old patterns, and amplifying intentions, according to aromatherapist Liz Fulcher of the Aromatic Wisdom Community. Cinnamon leaf is more gentle and comforting and encourages emotional resilience, optimism, and steadiness when you feel depleted, discouraged, or disconnected from your inner spark.

When discussing the uses and benefits of cinnamon essential oil, some sources specify leaf or bark, while others don't. I divided the following benefits into three categories: general, leaf, and bark.

General Cinnamon Benefits

Commonly mentioned cinnamon essential oil benefits include:

Tones the digestive system, improves appetite, and aids digestion.
Relieves pain, especially arthritis, rheumatism, menstrual cramps, and headaches. Helps improve circulation.
Helps heal insect bites, head lice, scabies, warts, and wasp stings.
Eases colds, flu, and similar conditions.
Relieves tension, steadies nerves, invigorates the senses, and acts as a mild aphrodisiac.
Reduces depression, drowsiness, and irritability, and helps relieve stress-related weak and exhausted conditions.

Sources:

Spiritually, cinnamon increases spiritual and psychic awareness, according to The Essential Guide to Aromatherapy and Vibrational Healing. Use the oil with the intention of increasing your intuitive skills. Mentally, this essential oil supports cognitive function and wakes you up. Emotionally, cinnamon increases your confidence and self-esteem.

In ayurveda, cinnamon pacifies vata and kapha and increases pitta, according to Marma Points of Ayurveda. The oil's virya (energy) is heating, and the oil is not recommended for high pitta. The rasa (taste) is sweet, pungent, and slightly astringent, and the vipaka (aftertaste) is pungent. This oil has an affinity for the lungs and helps decongest and loosen mucus. The oil also improves circulation and may help reduce cholesterol and triglycerides. Do not use with a bleeding disorder.

Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil Benefits

Cinnamon leaf helps relieve the following conditions:

Colds, flu, coughs, fevers
Fungus
Muscle injury, aches, and pains
Rheumatism, arthritis, and cold arms and legs
General physical debility, exhaustion, and fatigue
Nervous exhaustion and stress-related conditions
Sluggish digestion
Warts

You can also use cinnamon leaf oil in tooth and gum care products.

Sources: The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy and The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (updated edition).

During the winter months, enjoy cinnamon leaf's warming and elevating scent in your aromatherapy diffuser to relieve brain fog and winter blahs, according to Essential Oils Complete Reference Guide. The warm fragrance makes this oil excellent any time for warming your mind and emotions and dispersing feelings of loneliness.

Energetically, cinnamon leaf strengthens, invigorates, and motivates, according to Aromatherapy Anointing Oils. The oil's specific chakra uses:

Seventh (crown) chakra: strengthens spiritual resolve.
Sixth (third eye) chakra: strengthens and supports the mind and intuition and helps recover memories.
Fifth (throat) chakra: strengthens ability to communicate and promotes assertive communication.
Fourth (heart) chakra: strengthens the sensitive heart and promotes generosity and selfishness.
Third (solar plexus) chakra: promotes willpower, self-control, courage, and confidence. Encourages perseverance and action and appropriately strengthens personal power.
Second (sacral) chakra: promotes emotional strength.
First (root) chakra: grounds and strengthens. Promotes vitality.

Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil Benefits

Aromatica: A Clinical Guide to Essential Oil Therapeutics, Vol. 2: Psychologically, cinnamon bark promotes courage, self-confidence, disinhibition, and integration. Physically, the essential oil stimulates and warms cold conditions and restores weak conditions. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, cinnamon bark has the following characteristics:

Aroma energy: Pungent, sweet, woody
Movement: Circulating
Warmth: Warm to hot
Meridian tropism: Kidney, Spleen, Lung
Five-element affinity: Earth, Water
Essential function: Tonify the Yang, warm the interior, and strengthen the Shen

The Blossoming Heart: Use cinnamon bark when you feel emotionally withdrawn and live in a state of separation. The oil helps you listen to your deepest self and find a connection to lead you away from feelings of separation.

Cinnamon Essential Oil Uses and Blends

Four cinnamon essential oil uses:

Include the oil in warming liniments for tight muscles, painful joints, or menstrual cramps and to improve circulation.
Add cinnamon to your homemade cleaning products to help fight germs.
To get rid of musty smells from a garbage disposal: First, run soapy water down the drain. Then add 5 drops of cinnamon bark and 3 drops of lemon essential oil and let them sit for up to an hour.
Create an invigorating, uplifting diffuser blend to relieve fatigue and lethargy by blending cinnamon bark with ginger, sweet orange, lemon, or rosemary essential oil, according to The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, Third Edition, Vol. 1.

Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil Blends

Fall Diffuser Blend

2 drops cinnamon bark
2 drops clove bud
2 drops lemon
2 drops orange

Cheery Diffuser Blend

2 drops cinnamon bark
2 drops rosemary
2 drops peppermint

Cinnamon and Blood Sugar

Research has suggested that cinnamon may help control blood sugar. However, the effects resulted from using whole cinnamon or its extract, not essential oil. Research from the USDA suggests using one-half teaspoon of cinnamon extract a day could dramatically improve blood sugar, cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides in people with type 2 diabetes.

As for the essential oil, the 2022 meta-analysis Antidiabetic Potential of Volatile Cinnamon Oil, reported that cinnamon essential oil studies show the oil improves "fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, and improvement in both anatomy and function of kidney and liver cells." However, many studies were on animals, and more research with humans is needed.

About the Author

Carol Wiley is a retired massage therapist and freelance writer. She uses her deep interest in aromatherapy and essential oils to research their benefits and uses and bring you summaries and blends with links to more resources.

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