Adding a few rituals to your daily routine can help take care of your holistic well-being. For example, mediation and smudging can help you ground yourself and provide various benefits. If you want to make the most out of your daily rituals, adding different herbs and healing stones can give physical, mental, and spiritual benefits.
There are many different herbs available at our disposal, but one of the most commonly used herbs is lavender. Because of the many health benefits it provides, many have used lavender as tea or essential oil. It is a flowering plant in the mint family, easily identified due to its sweet floral scent. In ancient times, lavender is used as a holy herb and often added to various personal items to freshen up and give a light scent.
Another herb that is used for its medicinal properties is eucalyptus. This tree is native to Australia but can now be found in many areas of the world. Its leaves can be made into tea and essential oil to enjoy the benefits it provides. Adding these two herbs to your everyday ritual can have a lot of positive benefits. Below are some of them.
Benefits of Lavender and Eucalyptus
Lavender can help improve sleep.
Are you always tossing and turning throughout the night? If insomnia doesn’t leave you, lavender may help you get a good night's sleep. While cutting out caffeine and getting more exercise may help induce sleep, sometimes, these efforts won’t work and can leave you a groggy mess during the day. Lavender has been found an effective remedy in improving sleep, so if you have tried every remedy in the book to no avail, adding a few drops of lavender essential oil on your pillow can help you achieve a full night's sleep you have been dreaming about!
Eucalyptus may relieve cold symptoms.
Eucalyptus is commonly used as a natural remedy to relieve colds and is commonly found in cold and cough products. Research has found that its leaves can help decrease mucus and expand your lungs' bronchi and bronchioles. Eucalyptus is also a natural anti-inflammatory agent. The main ingredient, eucalyptol, found in eucalyptus, is responsible for this healing property. Other research has found that eucalyptol can relieve cold symptoms, including cough frequency, nasal congestion, and headache through its anti-inflammatory feature. It can also help improve asthma symptoms.
Lavender and eucalyptus can be used for various skin conditions.
Various essential oils are excellent for dermatology use, and lavender is one of them. This herb can help treat blemishes and ease inflammation, so if you have acne, eczema, or skin inflammation, you can apply this to the affected area. The antioxidant activity found in lavender can also contribute to wound healing. While it can elevate your skin regimen, be sure to ask your dermatologist before using it, as it may interact with other medication you are currently taking.
Eucalyptus, on the other hand, may improve dry skin by increasing its ceramide content. Ceramides are a type of fatty acid found in your skin that maintains your skin’s barrier and moisture. If you are experiencing dry skin, dandruff, or any skin disorders such as dermatitis or psoriasis, your skin’s ceramide levels are low. Using eucalyptus may increase these levels, thus, improving dry skin.
Topical eucalyptus leaf extract has a compound called macrocarpal that appears to stimulate ceramide production, boosting skin ceramides, their water-holding capacity, and skin barrier protection. According to research, using scalp lotion containing eucalyptus leaf extract and synthetic ceramide significantly decreased scalp redness, itchiness, dryness, and scaliness. This is why you can find skin and hair products that have eucalyptus leaf extract.
Both herbs help alleviate pain.
Inhaling eucalyptus oil may decrease pain since this herb has many anti-inflammatory compounds which can act as pain relievers. There are limited researches regarding this claim, but there’s no harm in trying since eucalyptus is a herbal plant. Lavender is also an effective remedy for pain, particularly postoperative. Because of its anti-inflammatory components—linalyl acetate and linalool—lavender can act as a pain reliever. Lavender also contains polysaccharides, which have been studied as molecules that are the most potent in curing inflammatory diseases, including arthritis and rheumatism.
Eucalyptus and lavender ease stress.
Stress can take a toll on your overall mental health. The higher anxiety levels, the higher the risk of experiencing headaches, depression, and low-energy. The good news is lavender can help lift your mood and provide a much-needed pick-me-up during stressful times. Research has shown that it has positive effects on mood, anxiety, stress, and depression. Eucalyptus can also decrease symptoms of stress. Some researchers believe that inhaling eucalyptus can decrease the activity of your sympathetic nervous system—the system responsible for stress— and increase the activity of the parasympathetic system, promoting relaxation.
Aromatherapy Smudge Kit
The Mecka has partnered with a local florist, Unique Floral Designs, to bring you hand-crafted smudges that can be used to cleanse various things, areas, and people. We have also included a palo santo stick, rose petals, eucalyptus, and lavender so you can achieve pure relaxation and reap the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits they have to offer.
The Mecka
We all know how important it is to build successful habits that can help you get through your everyday life. If you want to create a ritual of your own to take care of your overall wellness, we are here to help you. Here at Mecka, our goal is to help create a ritual and a process that allows you to relax and enjoy the important things in life. We can't control what happens to us every day, but we can control how we react and feel. We should cherish every moment we have, but that's a lot easier said than done. That's why we find products and techniques that will help lead better lifestyles and instill better habits that will hopefully one day make our world a better place.