Ylang Ylang essential oil: Health benefits and uses

Health benefits of Ylang Ylang essential oil include reducing depression, reducing eczema and other skin disorders, reducing high blood pressure, treating insomnia, stimulating the nervous system, promoting digestion, reducing high blood sugar levels, etc.

What is Ylang Ylang essential oil?

Do you know what is Ylang Ylang essential oil and from what is it made of? Ylang Ylang essential oil is extracted from a plant called Cananga odorata, which is native to East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Canonga odorata belongs to the family of Annonaceae. This is the same family to which our favorite custard apple belongs.

There are many chemical constituents of Ylang Ylang essential oil which are absolutely beneficial for our body. They are linalool, germacrene, geranyl acetate, caryophyllene, p-cresyl mether ether, methyl benzoate, sesquiterpenes.

Health benefits of Ylang Ylang essential oil:

Relieves stress and anxiety:

The World has become very competitive today. People are completely into a rat race which leads to stress, anxiety, and depression. Psychiatry as a medical branch is not very well developed in many countries and many people are quite reluctant to visit a psychiatrist to get help for depression and other stress-related ailments.

So, we need to take the help of natural remedies to get rid of stress, anxiety, and depression. Aromatherapy is really effective to relieve these problems. Ylang Ylang essential oil is an ancient remedy and its use as a part of aromatherapy yields excellent results in controlling these problems.

Aromatherapy with Ylang Ylang essential oil rejuvenates your body, relaxes your mind and calms you down. You can take the help of Ylang Ylang essential oil if you are really stressed due to any reason or have witnessed any major life change which has made you a victim of depression. But, make sure you attend counseling of psychologist as well.

Promotes digestion:

Not many people are aware that Ylang Ylang essential oil plays an important role in enhancing the function of your digestive organs as well. Aromatherapy with this oil helps in promoting the function of all of your internal organs including the digestive system.

You can also massage this oil over your abdomen by mixing few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil with some other oil like coconut oil or olive oil. But, it is not recommended to take Ylang Ylang essential oil internally or to drink it without the advice of your physician.

Reduces blood pressure:

Ylang Ylang essential oil plays a pivotal role in controlling blood pressure too. Stress and anxiety are one of the main reasons for high blood pressure. They stimulate the release of certain hormones in the body called catecholamines.

These hormones lead to constriction of the blood vessels and increase of the heart rate which raises the blood pressure and leads to hypertension.

Ylang Ylang essential oil alleviates stress, anxiety and all mental ailments and thereby keeps your blood pressure under control. Blood pressure is the cause of many other disorders like stroke, myocardial infarction or heart attack, etc.

Now, you can prevent all these diseases by using aromatherapy with Ylang Ylang essential oil. You can also mix 2 to 3drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil with coconut oil and massage it over your chest area to reduce blood pressure.

Good for Diabetes:

Stress is the major reason for many different diseases. High-stress levels increase the levels of certain hormones like catecholamines, cortisol, etc. They lead to increased blood sugar levels. Diabetic people with high-stress levels have poorly controlled blood sugar values.

So, Ylang Ylang essential oil helps in maintaining a good control of the blood sugar levels too by keeping your stress and anxiety in check. It also helps in controlling the nerve problems associated with diabetes.

Many people with diabetes suffer from burning sensation of feet, legs, numbness, etc. It is due to the nerve involvement in diabetes and its called autonomic neuropathy.

So, to strengthen your nerves and control these nerve problems associated with diabetes massage few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil over your feet regularly. You can mix this oil with coconut oil too and massage.

Makes heart healthy:

Heart diseases are one of the most common ailments all around the world. Many people die every year because of heart diseases. Many risk factors play a role in causing these diseases.

Smoking, drinking alcohol, high blood pressure or hypertension and high blood sugar levels or diabetes are some of the most common causes of heart diseases worldwide. They lead to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart.

This diminishes blood flow to the heart which ultimately leads to heart attack and congestive heart failure, etc. Ylang Ylang essential oil helps in reducing high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels to some extent.

As the risk factors for heart diseases are controlled, your heart becomes healthy, fit and devoid of any diseases.

Treats insomnia:

Many people are suffering insomnia these days. High-stress levels lead to continuous racing thoughts, bad mood and lack of mental peace. All these factors lead to a lack of sleep or insomnia.

Insomnia, in turn, leads to mental unrest, lack of concentration, daytime sleepiness, etc. An adequate amount of sleep is absolutely essential for every person. If you don’t sleep well, you can’t excel in anything. Sleep is one of the basic human requirements.

So, indulge in the fragrance of Ylang Ylang essential oil to get rid of insomnia and sleep well. You can sprinkle this oil over your wrists or dress and inhale. You can add few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil to a cup of water or over few flowers and place it beside your bed to inhale its perfume throughout the night.

Aphrodisiac:

Sex is an integral part of every couple’s life. It helps in promoting the bond between the partners and makes them understand each other well.But, stress amongst the people takes a toll on their romantic lives as well.

Ylang Ylang essential oil comes to your rescue during such tough times. Aromatherapy with this amazing essential oil can enhance your mood, help you get rid of stress, anxiety and all mental problems, provides you mental peace. Good mood boosts sex drive and this spices up your sex life.

Benefits of Ylang Ylang essential oil for hair:

Healthy, shiny, lustrous hair is every woman’s dream. But, not many women are blessed with such beautiful hair. We suffer from many hair maladies like dry hair, lack of shine, head lice, brittle hair, etc.

Ylang Ylang essential oil can help us to solve all these hair problems. It is an excellent hair care remedy. You just need to add a few drop of Ylang Ylang essential oil to your regular shampoo and also to your hair oil like coconut oil. Use herbal shampoo for more good results.

Ylang Ylang essential oil helps in making your hair long, shiny, smooth. Some people have also reported that it helps in getting rid of head lice.

Benefits for Skin:

Ylang Ylang essential oil has many benefits for our skin. You can use this oil in various ways to protect your skin. Just add few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil to coconut oil and massage it over your skin. This acts as a natural moisturizer and makes your skin soft and supple.

You can also add few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil to cold chamomile tea and apply it over your skin. It helps in toning your skin very well. This oil prevents aging of the skin, fights the effects of free radicals. Some studies have also shown that Ylang Ylang essential oil helps in the prevention of some types of skin cancer to some extent.

This oil is also an amazing antiseptic. It can fight various infections like bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the skin. You can add 2 to 3 drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil to coconut oil and apply it over your cuts, wounds, and abrasions.

This oil prevents the infections of these wounds and helps them in healing faster. It also helps in reducing the production of sebum and corrects the functioning of the sebaceous glands. It is also useful for people suffering from certain skin disorders like seborrhoeic dermatitis or eczema.

Boosts energy:

Many people suffer from lack of energy and fatigue. This makes us dull and we cannot do any activity in our day to day life effectively. We need adequate energy every day to work properly. Ylang Ylang essential oil helps in relieving stress and enhances your mood.

It rejuvenates your body and mind. It also helps in boosting your energy and confidence levels. You just need to massage Ylang Ylang essential oil in combination with any oil like jojoba oil or coconut oil over your scalp and hair. You can also add this oil to your dress, wrists, etc and inhale and benefit from the aromatherapy of this amazing oil.

Insecticidal:

Some studies have shown that this oil has larvicidal or insecticidal activity. This oil can kill the aedes aegypti and culex mosquito larvae. These mosquitoes are responsible for spreading various diseases like malaria, dengue, etc which are fatal sometimes.

Ways in which you can use Ylang Ylang essential oil:

• Mix few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil with any other oil like olive oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil and massage it over your scalp and hair. Lave it for some time and rinse well with your shampoo.
• Add few drops of this oil to your shampoo and use it for shampooing.
• Add Ylang Ylang essential oil to coconut oil and massage your chest and abdomen to stimulate your internal organs.
• Add this oil to your clothes to get its smell consistently.
• Add Ylang Ylang essential oil to Epsom salt bath. This relaxes you quite well.
• You can massage this oil over your partner to stimulate your partner’s mood and boost romantic drive.

There are many health benefits of Ylang Ylang essential oil. But make sure to test a small area of your skin with Ylang Ylang essential oil before using it in large amount. This is because some people might develop an allergic reaction to it.

It is always better to dilute Ylang Ylang essential oil with some other oil like coconut oil or jojoba oil before applying over your skin. This helps in preventing any skin irritation that might be caused by this oil. If you experience ay problem while using this oil, make sure to visit your physician for proper advice.