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Using essential oils for menopause relief is one way women can practice self care during this time of their lives.
Menopause is the point in a woman's life when she has gone for one year without a menstrual period. The time leading up to that point is perimenopause, and the time after that point is postmenopause.
Some women breeze through this time with few problems. Other women experience symptoms ranging from hot flashes and night sweats to insomnia and fatigue to anxiety and depression.
Although working with a healthcare provider who specializes in menopause is sometimes useful, you can also take self care into your own hands. Start with the tips on this page.
Here's a collection of aromatherapy blends that may help you manage your menopause and feel better.
Use this general menopause blend to massage your solar plexus in a clockwise direction:
Source: Healing With Aromatherapy
To help relieve mood swings, headaches, and insomnia, add 5 to 8 drops of each of the following essential oils to to 2 tablespoons jojoba oil:
Rub this blend onto your face and neck as needed.
Source: Massage & Aromatherapy: Simple Techniques to Use at Home
You can also use this body lotion to help relieve the symptoms of menopause:
Blend all ingredients and use as needed.
Source: Aromatherapy for Dummies
This recipe makes enough bath salts for about six baths. Keeps for up to three months stored in a cool, dark place.
To use: Use 1/2 cup for a bath, stirring in the salt after you run the bath.
Adapted from Essential Oils For Healing
Natural remedies for hot flashes
can include the use of aromatherapy. Try rubbing a little lavender
essential oil on the inside of your wrists or on your temples as needed.
Other potentially helpful essential oils for hot flashes are clary sage, lemon, and peppermint. You can inhale an oil, use it in a bath or for a foot rub, or mix it with a carrier oil for massage. For portable hot flash relief, make an aromatherapy inhaler using the essential oils that work best for you.
Hot Flash Blend
Healing With Aromatherapy recommends:
When you feel a hot flash coming on, rub a little of the blend on your face, neck, or wrists.
Bath Aromatherapy For Hot Flashes
Blend the ingredients. Add the blend to your bath.
Source: Pure Scents for Well Being
Powder To Relieve Night Sweats
To use: At bedtime, sprinkle some powder inside a pillow case or under the sheets.
Source: Essential Oils For Healing
Use the following suggested essential oils for menopause symptoms in a massage oil, an aromatherapy bath, or a diffuser. Experiment to see which oils work best for you.
Anxiety: Bergamot, jasmine, lavender, ylang ylang, Roman or German chamomile
Depression: Bergamot, neroli, melissa
Headaches: Roman or German chamomile, lavender, peppermint
Emotional ups and downs: Bergamot, jasmine, neroli, Roman or German chamomile
Mood swings: Grounding and balancing essential oils, such as patchouli, or soothing oils, such as lavender
Irritability: Grounding and balancing essential oils or sedating oils, such as cardamom
Fatigue: Energizing or stimulating essential oils, such as ginger, peppermint, or nutmeg
Insomnia: Lavender
Night sweats: Clary sage
Essential oils for menopause and regular massage therapy are a great combination. Massage can help relieve fatigue, anxiety and irritable feelings, and sore necks, shoulders, and backs. Other benefits of massage include improved
mobility in the muscles and joints, relief from headaches and muscle
tension, and increased energy and ability to concentrate.
Massage
also encourages a positive body image and offers an opportunity for you
to become reconnected to your body and honor the changes you are
experiencing.
What type of massage? It's a personal preference.
Some women like a deep massage, while others don't. Experiment
with different types of massage
and different massage therapists to find what works best for you. You
might also consider other bodywork techniques, such as reflexology,
acupressure, or reiki, for menopause help.
Combine any of these practices with your essential oils for menopause:
Photo Credit: Flickr User David Jackmanson