When it comes to the leading of cause of death in the United States, cardiovascular disease
Reducing your risk of heart disease involves making simple changes to your lifestyle, like quitting smoking, cutting down on alcohol, smart eating habits, daily exercise, and monitoring your cholesterol and blood pressure.
Used medicinally for centuries, essential oils are fragrant compounds derived mainly from distilling flowers, leaves, wood, and plant seeds.
Essential oils are meant to be inhaled or diluted in a carrier oil and applied to the skin. Do not apply essential oils directly to the skin. Do not take ingest essential oils. Some are toxic.
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However, it’s worth noting that only short bursts of aromatherapy are helpful. According to the same study, exposure that lasts for over an hour has the opposite effect.
If you’d like to try using essential oils to lower your heart disease risk, these are some of your best bets:
This “royal herb” pops up in pesto, soup, and on pizza. It packs a solid dose of vitamin K and magnesium. In addition, extract from basil leaves
Maintaining your blood sugar levels not only helps prevent diabetes, but heart disease as well. That’s because unregulated high blood glucose can increase the amount of plaque that forms on your artery walls.
Research from Korea shows that oil vapors from the white-pink flowers of this wide-leafed shrub are effective at decreasing systolic blood pressure (that top number in a blood pressure reading).
Stress and anxiety have a direct effect on blood pressure and overall heart health. Consider cypress oil which, when used in aromatherapy massage,
Commonly associated with cold relief products like cough drops, eucalyptus is also good for your heart. According to one study, inhaling air infused with eucalyptus oil can significantly lower your blood pressure.
A staple of Asian cuisine, mildly sweet smelling ginger not only possesses antioxidant properties and helps with nausea, but drinking ginger extract in water also shows promise in
Perhaps not as recognizable as others on this list, helichrysum, with its reedy flowers, came through in a
A longtime fixture of backyard gardens, this blue-violet flower finds its way into perfumes, soaps, and is even relied on to ward off mosquitos.
When inhaled, the oil from this Mediterranean herb (and close relative of oregano)
In 2013, researchers took a look at what effect inhaling the scent of this native Southeast Asian tree flower would have on a group of healthy men. They