Properties of Essential Oils

Properties of Essential Oils

It is the properties of the essential oils that make them so effective.

After so many years of using essential oils, I realize more and more how the properties of the essential oils are so much more than just physical – they support our spiritual / emotional vibrational side, which may be their most important property.

For example, I have been using the palmarosa essential oil under my arms, as a deodorant. I discovered that it worked best with my odor when I sweat. However, when I get nervous, either scared or upset, palmarosa is ineffective. Then, I would use different essential oils – Valor to give me encouragement, and Peace and Calming® to calm me down. Once, my toothache stopped immediately after using Peace and Calming®.

1. Chemically speaking, terpenes (hydro-carbons) are major biosynthetic building blocks within nearly every living creature.

Terpenes and terpenoids are the primary constituents of the essential oils!

2. Essential Oils are volatile and concentrated, having a tiny molecular size, less than 500 amu, and have a lipid-soluble structure similar to the makeup of our cell membranes.

(AMU, an atomic mass unit is a unit of mass used to express atomic masses and

molecular masses; a physical constant equal to one-twelfth of the mass of an unbound

atom of carbon -12.)

Essential oils penetrate cell membranes and diffuse throughout the blood and tissue in just 30 seconds!

One drop of essential oil contains approximately 40 million-trillion molecules. We have 100 trillion cells in our bodies. Therefore, 1 drop of essential oil covers every cell of ours with 40,000 molecules!

Each cell has 10,000 to 20,000 receptor molecules. This means we can use many essential oils to support our cells.

Not all receptors exist on the exterior of the cell. Some exist deep inside the cell, or even in the nucleus. These receptors typically bind to molecules that can pass through the plasma membrane, such as gases like nitrous oxide and steroid hormones like estrogen.

3. Essential oils are 50 to 70 times more therapeutically potent than the herbs or plants they are derived from

"Monoterpenes are the most chemicals abundant in essential oils, and

number in the thousands... Vs. maybe, up to 50 in

plants" (Aromatherapy with Chinese Medicine, Dennis Willmount)

What Essential Oils Offer

• Cleansing

“Essential oils clear our cellular receptors of pharmaceutical drugs, petrochemicals and other toxins interfering with the normal circulation and intercellular functions

“ P- First, the phenolics clean the receptor sites,

* S-Second, sesquiterpenes delete bad info from cellular memory,

* M-Lastly, monoterpenes restore or awaken the correct information in the

cell's memory (DNA).

What they simply do is to restore the body back to its

natural state of balance and health. While a specific oil may have

one or two of these three classes of compounds as its

predominant chemistry, all the Biblical oils contain some of all of

them. This is one secret to their amazing healing abilities.

So there you have it in a nutshell: The way the blood-brain

barrier works and the biochemistry of one of the ways essential

oils can help achieve healing.”

Read more about Essential Oils Chemistry and Constituents and PMS of essential oils in The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple by David Stewart, Ph. D., D.N.M.

• Balance PH

"... they increase the alkalinity of the body, not because oils are alkaline, but because of how they respond to acids....

The aggressive parts of an acid are the three hydrogen ions H+ that cause bodily damage wherever they circulate. When a therapeutic grade oil enters the body, its molecules willingly sacrifice themselves to the acid, engulfing and neutralizing the H_ ions, so that you don't have to suffer their mischief anymore. With a reduction of H+ ions in the body, pH is raised toward a healthier alkaline line near acid in and of themselves..."

• Balancing

"An essential oil works toward balance, and homeostasis means that the same oil can work in different directions depending on the needs of the plant or person.

For example, Oregano oil will kill hostile microbes while nurturing those that are friendly, and Melaleuca Alternifolia will take care of the fungus. Angelica oil can stimulate a uterus to contract or to relax depending on the need, Myrtle oil is an adaptogen that can stimulate an increase or decrease in thyroid activity depending on a person's condition, Ocotea balances blood sugar and pressure.

Drugs are incapable of such intelligent discrimination and act only in preprogrammed direction, like robots, whether beneficial or not (think of antibiotics)

• Energy

The energy of the therapeutic grade essential oils helps us stay balanced physically, emotionally and spiritually.

It is believed that a healthy body typically has a frequency ranging from 62 to 78 MHz, while disease may begin at 58 MHz. Essential oils have 52 – 320 MHz frequency.

( Read more in the Essential Oils Desk Reference / Gary Young )

• Provide Emotional support

How we feel directly affects our health, and our health affects how we feel. Our

emotions get our nervous system out of balance, in turn affecting the internal organs

functions and the chemical reactions (hormones and acid production), causing our muscles and organs to contract, or even get paralyzed, pain, indigestion, exhaustion, and so on.

If we try to block how we feel, our body will keep the cells contracted, constricting the

blood flow. At some point, our body will painfully let us know, and unless we address

and release these emotions, the physical imbalance may remain.

Center for emotions, memory, smell, behavior and cognitive learning, the limbic

system, is located behind the forehead and is directly connected to the central nervous

system. “The PNS links the CNS to the body’s sense receptors, muscles, and glands. “Our everyday

activities are controlled by the interaction between the sympathetic and parasympathetic

nervous systems. The nervous system is designed to protect us from danger through its

interpretation of and reactions to stimuli. But a primary function of the sympathetic and

parasympathetic nervous systems is interact with the endocrine system to elicit chemicals that

provide another system for influencing our feelings and behaviours

(https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/3-4-putting-it-all-together-the-nervous-system-and-the-endocrine-system/ )

Limbic part of the brain regulates autonomic nervous system (digestion, breathing, healing).

“Our body and brain cells have the opiate (emotional) receptor. For example, “blood

flow is closely regulated by emotional peptides, which signal receptors on blood vessel

walls to constrict or dilate, and so influence the amount and velocity of blood flowing

through them from moment to moment. For example, people turn "white as a sheet"

when they hear shocking news, or "beet red" when they become enraged.” “

(Molecules of emotion: why you feel the way you feel / Pert, Candace)

Our sense and memory of smell is the quickest and the strongest of our senses, 10,000

times stronger than other senses. Essential oils generate “responses to the odors we

smell in mere seconds.

Essential oils pass through the Blood Brain Barrier – see Cleansing above.

Dennis Willmont in his book Aromatherapy and Chinese Medicine puts it eloquently

how essential oils affect our brain:

“Lipids, especially phospholipids and essential fatty acids (EFA), are specific brain

foods. EFA regulate energy conversion and electron transfer in the brain by attracting

the oxygen necessary for the intense brain activity. Since essential oils are fat-soluble,

they tend to accumulate in these lipids as they circulate to the brain where they

have a similar function.”

Therapeutic grade essential oils assist in releasing negative emotions stored in your body, and

help balance mind and emotions

The Olfactory receptors

(From https://www.monell.org/research/anosmia/how_smell_works)

The millions of olfactory receptor cells have thin threadlike projections (olfactory cilia), which float in the nasal mucus. Olfactory cilia contain the molecular machinery for detecting the arrival of odorants and subsequently generating an electrical signal to be sent to the brain.

“the olfactory receptors are located on nerve cells directly connected to the brain.

These specialized cells regenerate throughout the lifespan, with new olfactory receptor cells arising from underlying basal (stem) cells. This process likely occurs over a period of weeks.

The olfactory system can detect and identify many thousands – and perhaps much more – of odorant molecules. No one knows exactly how many. Odorants are small molecules that easily evaporate and become airborne. When we breathe or sniff the air, odorant molecules are drawn into our nose to enter the naval cavity, entering a complex system of nasal passages.

Lining a portion of the nasal cavity is the olfactory epithelium, a thin sheet of mucus-coated sensory tissue that contains the olfactory receptor cells, along with supporting cells and basal (stem) cells.

Odorant molecules can reach the olfactory epithelium either via the nose, a process known as orthonasal olfaction, and also from the mouth, referred to as retronasal olfaction. The odorants dissolve into and pass through a layer of mucous overlying the olfactory epithelium.

ODOR DETECTION

Odorant molecules are detected and recognized by olfactory receptors, specialized proteins embedded in the ciliary membranes of olfactory receptor cells.

The first step in odor recognition involves selective binding of odorants to one or more olfactory receptors. The human nose contains approximately 400 different types of olfactory receptors. Animals with a highly developed sense of smell, such as dog, rat, or cat, may have over a thousand different receptor types.

When an odorant molecule binds with a receptor, it triggers a biochemical chain reaction inside the receptor cell. The end result is a shift of the cell’s electrical charge. This shift causes the receptor cell to fire off a series of electrical pulses, which are sent to the brain along a thin nerve fiber known as an axon. When this process reaches a critical level, the receptor cell sends an electrical signal to the next cell, which is located in the olfactory bulb –– the first part of the brain that processes incoming odor information.

Interaction of an odorant molecule with an olfactory receptor (green) triggers a complex molecular cascade within the olfactory receptor cell. This process, known as transduction, translates chemical information from the odorant into electrical information that can be understood by the brain.

From the olfactory bulb, odor information travels to the limbic system, an ancient part of the brain involved with emotion and memory. Other connections go to olfactory cortex, which is where conscious awareness of an odor takes place. Cross-connections between cortex and the limbic system may be essential in forming lifelong, emotionally-laden, olfactory memories. Olfactory information also travels to the orbitofrontal cortex, which receives input from other sensory systems.

For much more information, read my post Essential oils for emotions

• Each essential oil has many chemical constituents supporting natural body processes

Essential oils perform all the functions in our body they perform in plants

Each therapeutic grade essential oil is "whole and balancing" - has more than one health-supporting property as it has many constituents. In the human body, essential oils stimulate the secretion of antibodies, neurotransmitters, endorphins, hormones, and enzymes. .

When these constituents are isolated (as in medications and preservatives), they are not balanced anymore and therefore may be toxic to your body and the environment.

Essential oils are anti-inflammative, sedative (aldehydes)

1. promote tissue formation, mucolytic, lipolytic (ketones)

2. strongly bactericidal, immune-stimulant, tonifying, strengthening, warming (phenols)

3. antiseptic, stimulant, anti-infectious (phenylpropane derivatives)

4. antiseptic, heart tonifying, diuretic, immune stimulant, microbicidal (alcohols)

5. spasmolytic, fungicidal, soothing to the skin, direct action on CNS, anti-inflammative (esters)

6. balancing, spasmolytic, carminative (ethers)

7. anti-inflammative, cooling, anti-allergic (sesquiterpene hydrocarbons)

Research indicates that when essential oils are diffused, they can increase atmospheric oxygen and provide negative ions, breaking down potentially harmful chemicals and rendering them nontoxic, inhibiting bacterial growth.

For example, cedarwood and frankincense can increase the levels of oxygen in the brain by up to 28%!

Therefore, by supplying our cells with the building blocks and nutrients, we can effectively rebuild our body.

Quality of Essential Oils

The more constituents are in the essential oil, the more balanced it is, and the more necessary balanced cleansing and building materials will be available for you.