The body of scientific evidence regarding the potency of plant medicines against a great variety of viral and bacterial illnesses is growing. And with the Winter months — the “cold and flu season” — coming, now is the time to investigate all the ways you can protect your health and the health of your family. More and more people are turning to the vast healing potential of essential oils, getting beyond the soft ideas of “aromatherapy” and into the practical value of “aroma medicine”. Using essential oils for immune system support is a tried-and-true application — in fact, most medical aromatherapists consider the most important use of essential oils in medical applications will be for the prevention and treatment of infectious illness (see Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt’s ‘Medical Aromatherapy’).

Why Are Essential Oils Such Effective Antimicrobial Medicines?

For the uninitiated, essential oils are the volatile aromatic compounds distilled from plants. In this way, they just happen to be a particular form of herbal medicine, just any other medicinal plant extract. At the same time, they’re quite unique in terms of their health effects: Firstly, they are easily absorbed by our bodies, getting into the nooks-and-crannies of our physiology — some other forms of herbal medicine are difficult to absorb, and require extensive preparation, which is really already done by the person who has distilled the essential oil. Second, in terms of infectious illness, essential oils can do for us EXACTLY the same thing they do for plants: prevent infection from bacteria, viruses and fungus. An excellent analogy would be extracting particular antioxidants from a plant and ingesting this for capturing oxidative radicals in our bodies — the antioxidant serves precisely the same function for the plant.

Scientific Research: Antimicrobial & Immune-stimulant Actions of Essential Oils

Scientific researchers have demonstrated antiviral, antibacterial and immune-system stimulating actions of a great many essential oils in laboratory settings. Essential oil of Oregano is one of the most effective antibacterials available, and can be ingested in small doses by humans for this effect because of its low toxicity (household bleach is an excellent antibacterial, but is highly poisonous!). Tea Tree essential oil was recently shown to destroy the H1N1 virus (Letters in Applied Microbiology, Sept. 2009); Bay Laurel has this effect against the virus SARS-CoV; MANY essential oils prevent the spread of, and heal infections from HSV-1 and HSV-2. Further, essential oils have demonstrated abilities to improve the function of our immune system: in the April 2008 issue of BMC Immunology, Eucalyptus essential oil was shown to significantly improve immune cell response, and this same essential oil is considered to have anti-viral action as well.

The Practices for Cold and Flu Prevention

So how can you employ essential oils for the health of your family and children? Or for those in clinical settings, how can oils be used to prevent the spread of infection? There are two primary features to the oils that you’ll want to utilize: their direct eradication of microbes in the air, and their ability to support our immune systems to prevent infection within our bodies. There are two methods of using essential oils for these purposes: Diffusion and topical application. Both these methods are also useful if one has already caught a cold or flu, particularly in the early stages.

Diffusing Essential Oils: Aromatherapist’s Favorite Immune Supporting Method

Diffusing essential oils is one of three primary modalities of aromatherapy (the other two being aroma-massage and ingestion). Evaporating the oils in your environment offers several important benefits: the air is disinfected, the scent of the oils is apparent — offering mood lifting effects, and secondary immune-enhancing effects for some people, and the oils are inhaled and absorbed by the body. This is an exceptionally useful means of using the oils for immune support in crowded environments, having the potential effect of reducing the spread of contagions. Perhaps the most important effect is the direct contact of the essential oils with our respiratory system — the sinuses and the lungs — where having cells be more resistant to infection can have the most beneficial result.

Choosing the Best Diffuser Style

For disinfecting the air in any enclosed space, you’ll want to use a “nebulizing” diffuser — one that makes a fine mist of essential oils that easily evaporates. There are two styles of nebulizing diffuser: “cold air” and “ultrasonic”. The cold air units make a mist of pure essential oil, while the ultrasonic units mix oils with water. The cold air units will output the highest concentration of oils of any diffuser type; though the ultrasonic units are nice for very try conditions. Be sure to set up your diffuser with a timer system, so the diffuser only cycles on for a few minutes every hour — there’s no need to over-saturate the air. Most therapeutic protocols recommend diffusing the oils for about 7 minutes for every hour; this can be done continually throughout the day and night. Remember that for children, you’ll want to keep the oil concentration to a minimum — perhaps just enough oil in the air so the scent can just be detected.

Topical Application: Easily Absorbing the Essential Oils

Because essential oils pass readily through human tissue, topical application is also particularly effective. For this purpose, the essential oils are diluted in another oil like Sweet Almond, Jojoba, or Coconut (virgin Coconut oil is fast becoming popular for this particular therapeutic purpose, as it is considered to have antimicrobial actions even by itself — just warm until liquid to mix with essential oils). A 5% dilution of essential oils in the “carrier oil” is common for adults (this is 40 drops total essential oils per fluid ounce of carrier — we’ll look at some recipes in a moment). Use up to a 10% dilution if applying to the feet. For children, use only a 1-3% dilution (the lower dilutions for the younger ones). Do not use essential oils with infants unless you’re guided by a professional. A simple aroma-therapy bath can be had just by adding a tablespoon of your formula to a bath once its already drawn, swirling the oils into the water. A deep soak while the pores and sinuses are open is a time-honored treatment method.

Therapeutic Immune-Stimulating Massage

Your oil blend can be massaged into regions of the body associated with the immune system: the lymph glands are near the surface in the front of the arm pits, on the sternum, and the sides of the neck. Some folks will massage the blends into their sinus areas and temples as well. Further, the tops and bottoms of the feet are very receptive to the actions of essential oils — by consulting a reflex point chart, you can even pinpoint spots associated with the respiratory and lymph systems. Regular, daily application to either the feet or lymph-node regions can be a highly effective means of gaining the immune-supportive benefits of oils when diffusion is not practical, such as when traveling.

Putting It All Together: The Essential Oil Formulas

A few oils are considered both very safe AND highly effective for our purposes. Niaouli is considered by some to be the most potent immune-stimulating oil available, though its “fishy-eucalyptus” smell is a challenge for some. But other oils in the same family are also very effective, and more pleasant to use: Eucalyptus Radiata, Bay Laurel, Melissa, Tea Tree, Thyme (for family use, choose only the Linalool chemotype), Ravensara, Rosemary, Rosalina, Lavender and Hyssop are excellent choices. For home or clinical use, an excellent “starter” formula can be made by choosing any of these three oils and mixing them together in equal parts. Even better, choose one from each “family” of oils shown: Eucalyptus from the “cineol” oils, Lavender from the florals, and Melissa from the herbs. (Because of the high cost and exceptional potency of Melissa, it can be used at about 1/5th portion of the other oils).

Mixing any three of these oils will create an effective synergy (it appears that the more chemically-complex essential oils have greater antiviral action, and blending this way replicates this). A specific formula may be made like this: 1 milliliter each of Bay Laurel, Eucalyptus, and Lavender, plus 8 drops of Melissa. This recipe can be used directly in a diffuser, or blended in a carrier oil as above. In one ounce of carrier, this would make a 10% concentration (for foot use), in 2 ounces of carrier for application to the rest of the body and as a bath oil. Continue diluting the recipe as necessary for children depending on their age. Essential oils are highly potent, so don’t be afraid of really diluted them down for use by children (in fact, this should be the rule!).

Essential Oils: Simple Treatments for Maximum Health

During the cold seasons, these simple uses of essential oils can have profound results for your immune system, and the health of your friends, co-workers, clients, family and children. You can be confident of the scientifically-supported benefits of these wonderful herbal medicines. And as oils have so many positive health effects outside of just supporting immune system function, you’ll open the door to a new realm of natural health.

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