How to Use Peppermint Essential Oil to Improve Your Life
When you think of peppermint, does your nose tingle with the thought of icy toothpaste or red and white spiral candies?
While these minty properties of peppermint are usually associated with oral health and fresher breath, peppermint is so much more than that.
This aromatic plant has been used across North America, Asia, and Europe as far back as ancient Egyptian times for everything from indigestion relief to respiratory infections.
In fact, as you’ll see today, there are six awesome ways you can use peppermint essential oil — and each one can help you improve your life.
Let’s find out how much power this little plant packs.
How Can a Peppermint Essential Oil Improve Your Life?
Peppermint essential oil is most commonly used during oil pulling for a cleaner, brighter smile.
But that’s only one amazing benefit.
Many people also turn to peppermint when they’re looking for congestion relief, so let’s start there.
#1:Breathe Better with Peppermint
If you’re dealing with nasal congestion from seasonal allergies (like grass pollen) or year-round nasal irritants (like dust and pet dander), you know how difficult it is to find relief when you can’t breathe.
And, as the weather gets colder, your nasal passages can get dry and cracked, feeling uncomfortable.
When you’re suffering from any of these nasal issues, you can’t breathe through your nose like you normally would. Instead, you’re forced to breathe only through your mouth, which then causes that to dry up and become irritated, too.
Dry mouth then leads to both bad breath and a sore throat. Lucky you.
Fortunately, there’s a way to avoid all of these unwanted symptoms: by using peppermint essential oil.
This powerful, natural decongestant helps soothe your nasal pasages and can open them up for better breathing.
Here’s how to find relief: Add a few drops of a high quality peppermint essential oil to a diffuser and inhale deeply.
Within a few seconds, you’ll feel an improvement in your nasal congestion and your dry passages will find soothing relief.
You can also use peppermint to perk yourself up, as you’ll see next.
#2: Uplift and Energize Your Mood
You can’t miss the scent of peppermint; it’s one most of us can pick out with our eyes closed (and maybe even one nostril blocked!).
But what you may not realize is that this smell also has an incredible ability to uplift and energize your mood.
Because of this, you can actually breathe in a peppermint essential oil anytime you’re feeling low on energy.
When you want to take a yoga class, play with your kids or prepare for a big presentation, you may find that simply smelling peppermint is enough of a boost to replace your usual go-to cup of coffee.
Not only that, peppermint can also clear your focus and soothe away stress, making it a great afternoon or early evening pick-me-up, too!
Here’s how to find relief: Once again, you can add a few drops of your essential oil to an oil diffuser to score all these mood-enhancing benefits.
But if you’re wondering how else you can reap these rewards, fear not.
You can also add a few drops to a carrier oil and apply this mixture topically.
This is ideal for finding relief on-the-go. It’s also the perfect stealthy option for those who don’t want to run a diffuser in the office (or anywhere else in public, for that matter).
If you prefer this option, dab the mixture underneath your nose, on your neck or on your wrists just like you would a traditional perfume or cologne. Take an initial deep whiff then inhale and exhale as normal.
This same topical mix that uplifts your spirits can also reduce irritation and give you itch relief too as you’ll see next.
#3: Soothe Bites and Stings
The cooling properties of peppermint also make an outstanding natural remedy for skin irritations such as bug bites and stings.
When applied topically, you’ll help to reduce the inflammation surrounding the bite while the cooling property will help to numb both the pain and itchiness.
No more chemical itch relief necessary!
Here’s how to find relief: Apply a high quality peppermint essential oil directly to the bite. Repeat this every few hours as needed for instant relief.
You can also use peppermint to soothe irritations within the body, not just on the surface.
#4: Ease Digestive Upsets
The same cooling property that gives off that minty flavor and calms insect bites can also provide you with digestion relief when you’re feeling queasy.
Peppermint has been studied as a successful, natural way to give patients undergoing chemotherapy nausea relief.
And results from another study found that peppermint can also help those suffering from the symptoms of IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome.
In that study, 75% of patients reported a reduction in bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation and gas, among other uncomfortable symptoms.
And there’s more.
This same cooling effect can also help combat heartburn and indigestion, eases stomach cramps, alleviates stomach aches and even helps to reduce morning sickness.
Think your tummy is ready for all this love?
Here’s how to find relief: Apply a few drops of peppermint essential oil to a carrier oil and apply it topically. You can apply it directly to your stomach and gently massage it in to let the oil absorb and do its magic.
For an even quicker remedy, add a few drops of a peppermint essential oil to your water -but drink slowly.
Peppermint’s cooling properties have one more advantageous trick up their sleeve: reducing your body temperature.
#5: Cool Down Faster
When your body starts to overheat, everything goes into overdrive and things can quickly escalate.
If you’ve ever been close to overheating, you can relate to just how fast things go from bad to worse. And if you’re alone when this happens, everything can become a lot more dangerous.
Surprisingly, there’s one surefire way to avoid getting to this scary point: drink water often and use a peppermint essential oil to reduce your body temperature.
Here’s how to find relief: Mix a drop of a high quality peppermint essential oil with 1⁄4 teaspoon of fractionated coconut oil or almond oil in the palms of your hands.
Apply this mixture to the bottoms of your feet, the back of your neck and your spine to give yourself a nice, cooling refresher.
Let the fresh, minty scent take you to your own happy igloo.
Speaking of your happy place, did you know you can also use peppermint to keep your space cleaner?
#6: Create a Toxic-free Cleaner
Let’s say you decide to follow our advice and start using peppermint oil in each of the five ways we’ve discussed today.
You’ll negate a good portion of your hard work if your environment is still packed with harmful toxins.
Peppermint oil comes to the rescue once again to change this.
Instead of using harmful chemicals to clean your space, why not make your own toxic-free cleaner instead?
Not only is this a much safer alternative for pets and babies, but it’s also going to uplift, energize and relax you while you’re cleaning your space. It’s a true win/win!
Here’s how to create your own toxic-free cleaner: Add the following ingredients to a spray bottle, shake well and use the mixture on any affected areas for a cleaner, greener home:
- 10 drops of Peppermint essential oil
- 10 drops of Eucalyptus essential oil
- 10 drops of Orange essential oil
- ¼ cup of vinegar
- 1 ½ cup of water
For double the impact, you can add your peppermint essential oil to an oil diffuser to fill the air with freshness and banish toxins for a germ-free happy place.
Use Peppermint Essential Oil for Around-the-Clock Relief
Who knew that the humble peppermint herb could provide so much needed improvement across several different areas of your life?
To take advantage of this popular essential oil, use it often throughout the day for all-day relief.
Begin by smelling a few whiffs of peppermint oil as you wake up. Then you can either continue to diffuse it throughout the day, or add the oil to a container to carry around and apply topically.
Speaking of never going without, you can also use a portable essential oil diffuser for places like your car, office or hotel room when a larger diffuser is too much of a hassle.
Any of these ways will ensure you’ll never be without the refreshing and invigorating smell you now know as an ultra powerful, natural remedy.
If you’re ready to get started, get your own high quality peppermint essential oil today!