Reaching for your phone and reading the news the first thing in the morning is the most stressful thing you can do to yourself. Nothing good comes out it. With the rise in COVID-19 cases, it becomes difficult to think and feel optimistic. While there’s not much that you can do to change what’s happening in the world, you only have control over yourself. Your thoughts, your hygiene, your mental health, your happiness. There are many ways to keep calm and de-stress during these trying times. Read a book, bake a cake with mum, send memes to your family group on Whatsapp, play online games together, or indulge in a few beauty treatments. The latter could revolve around doing a facial at home, painting your nails a fun colour, making a DIY hair mask, or perhaps, something less complicated like spraying perfume on your wrist!
This Is How You Can Use Fragrance To Boost Your Mood
From all the senses, the smell is the strongest human sense. It helps to boost productivity, improve concentration, calm our nerves, trigger memory and all sorts of wonderful things. If you’ve been in a gloomy state of mind, here’s how you can master the power of aromatherapy.
If You’re Having Trouble Concentrating
Peppermint, lemon and rosemary help you to concentrate better and focus on your tasks. If you feel anxious, they can calm you down and boost your energy levels. If perfumes don’t make the cut, then use essential oils, body scrubs, body butter – it’s the scent that matters at the end of the day.
If You’re Feeling Glum
True, there are plenty of unfortunate things happening in the world right now and that can cause you to feel helpless and glum. Chin up, buttercup! Sniff on lavender, basil, clary sage, ylang-ylang, chamomile and bergamot. If you have potpourri lying around in your home, now is the time to put it to good use.
If You’re Feeling Overwhelmed
Whoever said work from home is easy has probably never tried it before. With never-ending deadlines, back and forth with email follow-ups, conference calls every hour – you feel overwhelmed by it all. Finding a healthy outlet is essential during stressful times like this. Yoga, Zumba, writing, meditating and aromatherapy can help you cope up with stress. Cinnamon, neroli, peach and cypress are scents that can heal you with just one, big sniff.
If You’re Having Trouble Sleeping
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During the lockdown, everyone’s schedules have gone off track. We’re eating at odd hours, working out at odd hours and sleeping at odd hours. To be more productive the next day, you must get enough of rest. For people who are having difficulty in sleeping opt for scents like lavender, vanilla and sandalwood. You can spray some of it on your pillowcase – this will help you to get sound sleep at night.
If You Need To Keep The Spark Alive
No matter how much you love your spouse, having them around 24/7 can tick you off if personal space is a priority to you. Don’t let COVID-19 create cracks in your relationship, power through it. Workout with your partner, meditate in silence, cook a meal together or even better, sniff on some aphrodisiac scents together like cinnamon, chocolate, black liquorice, jasmine and orange blossom. The scents will awaken your senses and get you in the mood for some heavy petting! 😉
If You Prefer Taking The Natural Route
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Dr Taruna Yadav, Ayurveda Doctor at Forest Essentials, believes that certain scents can transform your mood and productivity. She says, “Ayurveda states all the five senses are important to create a balance of all the doshas in the body, and fragrances have a direct influence on the mind and emotions. Ayurvedic Aromatherapy talks in detail about the effects of different fragrances on different body types to balance the mind and emotions.
As per this ancient science, different mood states are primarily due to the impact of different doshas on the mind, so it’s essential to choose the right fragrance as per different states of mind and its related dosha to transform your mood and productivity.”
So how does one balance their dosha out with the help of fragrances? Dr Taruna has a solution to that too!
Vata Balancing Fragrances – Calming and soothing fragrances of Jasmine, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Valerian, Lavender, etc help in balancing Vata induced emotions like stress and anxiety, and they calm the mind as well.
Pitta Balancing Fragrances – Calming and cooling fragrances like Vetiver, Rose, Cardamom, Sweet orange, Neroli, etc help in balancing Pitta emotions like anger and irritable mood.
Kapha Balancing Fragrances – Stimulating and rejuvenating fragrances like Bergamot, Basil, Cinnamon, Clove, etc balance Kapha induced emotions like lethargy and feeling low. These fragrances also helps in uplifting one’s mood.
Aromatherapy sounds pretty interesting, right? Why not give it a try today?