Lavender Essential Oil Health Benefits and Uses: Physical, Mental, and Emotional

Let's look at lavender essential oil health benefits and uses for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

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Lavender (Lavandula angustfolia) oil increases energy and strengthens body systems,² with an affinity for all systems, especially the skin⁴ (see Lavender Essential Oil Skin Care). This affinity is especially strong for the neuroendocrine, digestive, urinary, reproductive, and respiratory systems, where the oil relaxes tense conditions, cools hot conditions, and restores weak conditions.¹ 

Unless otherwise noted, sources for lavender essential oil health benefits are the following books:

¹ Aromatica: A Clinical Guide to Essential Oil Therapeutics, Volume 1 (Holmes, 2016)
² Complete Aromatherapy & Essential Oils Handbook for Everyday Wellness (Purchon & Cantele, 2014)
³ Heart of Aromatherapy (Butje, 2017)
⁴ The Aromatherapy Companion (Shutes, 2022)
⁵ The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, Third Edition, Volume I (Battaglia, 2018)

Physical Health Benefits of Lavender Essential Oil

A benefit that runs through the following descriptions of lavender is its ability to help reduce inflammation.

Respiratory System

Lavender relaxes the respiratory system and helps reduce spasmodic bronchial conditions.¹ The oil helps relieve allergies and sinus congestion,³ loosening and expelling mucus, making the oil useful for an inhalation or chest rub for bronchitis, cough, colds, laryngitis, mucus, and throat infections.² However, lavender's effect on allergies and sinus congestion is moderate.¹ This means the oil may be more effective in a blend than alone, or if you use a lavender rich in 1,8 cineole.⁵

See more essential oils for allergies and congestion.

Musculoskeletal System

Lavender helps relieve all types of pain and spasms, including:^1,2,4,5

• General muscle and joint tension, stiffness, aches, and pains
• Tension and vascular headaches (migraines)
• Back pain, sciatica
• Chronic pain conditions, such as arthritis, rheumatic pain, and fibromyalgia
• Tendinitis, sprains, strains, shin splints, bursitis, plantar fasciitis

The best way to use lavender for these problems is a synergistic massage or bath blend with other essential oils, where lavender strengthens their properties.² Suggested essential oils to blend with lavender to relieve muscle aches and pains include black pepper, clove, peppermint, eucalyptus, fragonia, ginger, kunzea, sweet marjoram, nutmeg, pine, rosemary, or thyme.⁵

Here's a warming muscle and joint blend with lavender essential oil for pain and inflammation:

• 50ml (about 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) carrier oil
• 10 drops lavender essential oil
• 5 drops rosemary essential oil
• 5 drops cinnamon essential oil

Blend all the oils. Store in a dark glass bottle. As needed, massage some of the blend into painful areas. Source: 100 Amazing Blends and Uses of Essential Oils

To relieve sore muscles and help you sleep, blend 13 drops lavender and 5 drops german chamomile essential oil into 2 tablespoons carrier oil. Shake well before each use. Massage a little of the blend into sore muscles before going to bed.

To use lavender essential oil for headache and migraine, make a lavender aromatherapy inhaler or dilute the oil and massage it into your neck and shoulders. You will probably get better results with a headache or migraine blend.

See more essential oils for pain.

Reproductive System

Lavender eases dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps) and encourages and regulates menstrual flow, which may help deal with amenorrhoea (lack of periods).^1,2,4 Suggested essential oils to blend with lavender for menstrual cramps include roman chamomile, clary sage, geranium, sweet marjoram, or rose.⁵ Clary sage is especially useful.⁴

For menstrual and menopausal problems, Aromatherapy and the Mind by Julia Lawless recommends blending 2 drops each of lavender, rose, and melissa essential oils in 1 tablespoon sweet almond oil for a restorative massage.

You can use lavender during labor to reduce severity of contractions⁴ and stimulate difficult or stalled labor.¹ Suggested resource: Aromatherapy and Massage for Mother and Baby.

More essential oils for menstrual cramps.

Digestive System

Lavender relieves intestinal cramps and spasms and may stimulate bile production.² The oil helps calm spasmodic digestive conditions, including IBS, colic, dyspepsia, flatulence, vomiting, and stress-related digestive problems and may clear liver-gallbladder congestion.¹

You can diffuse lavender essential oil for digestion or dilute the oil and massage the blend onto your abdomen in a clockwise direction. You may get better results with a digestive blend.

Circulatory System

Circulatory benefits sometimes attributed to lavender include acting as a cardiac restorative, stimulating circulation, helping reduce edema, helping bruises heal faster, relaxing the cardiovascular system, and helping lower blood pressure.¹

Nervous System

Lavender is a nervous restorative that helps relieve chronic weak conditions such as fatigue, insomnia, chronic stress, exhaustion, and depression with anxiety or agitation.¹

Lavender can sedate or stimulate the nervous system, depending on your needs. The oil sedates in conditions of mental and emotional agitation and unrest, calming the mind, comforting feelings, and alleviating fears. The oil is uplifting and revives the spirit when you feel emotionally depleted and depressed.⁵

Mental and Emotional Lavender Essential Oil Health Benefits

"Lavender is nurturing, supportive, and uplifting," according to The Heart of Aromatherapy. The oil relaxes the mind and body, supports emotional balance, and calms the nervous system to inspire deep relaxation and sleep.

Lavender can create calm and order from mental chaos to harmonize and balance every aspect of body and mind, including helping relieve or manage conditions such as:^2,4

• Anxiety
• Hyperactivity
• Insomnia
• Irritability
• Mild depression
• Panic attacks
• Stress

Lavender's fresh, uplifting scent supports you in creating inner freedom from compulsive behaviors and changing bad mental habits, such as a harsh inner critic or negative self-talk, according to The Essential Oils Complete Reference Guide. The book notes lavender balances the mood and extreme emotional states, such as shock, rage, nervousness, fear, frustration, jealousy, and impatience.

Suggested essential oils to blend with lavender:^1,5

• For insomnia, anxiety, agitated depression, or burnout: clary sage.
• For acute stress-related tension with agitation, insomnia, or anxiety: roman chamomile.
• For acute anxiety, insomnia, and agitation: marjoram.
• To relieve stress, anxiety, and nervous tension: bergamot, atlas cedarwood, coriander, roman chamomile, fragonia, geranium, neroli, sweet orange, patchouli, petitgrain, rose, sandalwood, vetiver, ylang ylang.
• To lessen depression: bergamot, clary sage, geranium, jasmine, neroli, patchouli, rose, sandalwood, ylang ylang.
• To alleviate insomnia: atlas cedarwood, roman chamomile, fragonia, sweet marjoram, neroli, sandalwood, vetiver.

Ways to use lavender for these benefits: aromatic bath, personal inhaler, roll-on, diffuser, aromatic spray, and massage.

Lavender Essential Oil for Anxiety

A systematic review and meta-analysis (2019, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944711319303411) found 54 out of 65 randomized trials (83%) showed that lavender significantly improved at least one anxiety measure compared to control groups. 

One way to use lavender essential oil for anxiety is in an aromatherapy diffuser or making a neck rub with 3 drops in 1 teaspoon carrier oil. See more essential oils for anxiety.

Lavender Essential Oil for Sleep

To use lavender oil to sleep, rub a drop on your palm and smooth over pillowcase or put a drop on a tissue and place it by your pillow.

Lavender Sleep Lotion

• 20 drops lavender
• 8 drops rose geranium essential oil
• 6 drops palo santo essential oil
• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) unscented lotion or cream

Blend ingredients in a small dark-color glass jar. Rub some lotion on your neck, shoulders, chest, and arms before going to bed.

Adapted from Nature's Essential Oils: Aromatic Alchemy for Well-Being

Lavender Sleep Diffuser Blends
#1

• 3 drops lavender
• 2 drops frankincense
• 1 drop ylang ylang
• 1 drop roman chamomile

Source: Lavender: 50 Self-Care Recipes

#2

• 10 drops lavender
• 5 drops marjoram essential oil
• 1 drop neroli essential oil

Source: The Magic and Power of Lavender

More essential oils for sleep. Also see Essential Oils for Mental Health Support.

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