Tier 1 – Article

Essential Oils for College Students

College living – especially in the dorms – can be an exciting social experience. Yet it can also bring challenges for many students living for the first time on their own away from home. Essential oils make transitioning into a life-changing experience a little easier. Here’s how:

  1. Evoke a sense of home: One way to be reminded of home is through aroma. You can turn any dorm room into a space that feels more familiar by diffusing essential oils that have aromas close to what your home smells like. We strongly associate feelings of home and comfort with aromas like vanilla, lavender, citrus and spices, like cinnamon and clove.
  1. Use oils to study by: Research shows that studying with the essential oil of rosemary can help students during test/exam time. Rosemary is a great oil for mental focus and concentration, and is a must-have during late night study sessions.
  1. Create an aromatherapy shower experience: Even in shared bathrooms, having an aromatic shower can bring many different benefits.
  • New to getting up on your own? Essential oils like peppermint, eucalyptus and rosemary are wonderful to get you going first thing in the morning.
  • Need to decompress at the end of the day? Essential oils like lavender, Roman chamomile, ylang ylang, patchouli, sandalwood, sweet marjoram, and vetiver make great choices prior to bedtime.
  • Keep the essential oils contained in the shower. A wash cloth, cotton balls or cotton face pads make great “carriers” for essential oils in the shower. They contain or capture the oils and keep them from being just washed down the drain.
  • Drop the essential oils onto the pad or cloth and place it on the shower floor.
  • Make sure to place it in an area where the water can reach, but don’t let the water directly hit it or the oils can volatize too quickly.
  • Add 10 to 12 drops for full effect.

These are just a few suggestions for ways to make the college experience a little easier and more enjoyable. Find more essential oil recipes and usage tips at

Tier 2 – Article

Aromatherapy Tips for Savvy Students

Get at least eight hours of sleep. Chew gum. When stumped on a multiple choice question, always choose “C”. Whether they’ve worked or not, we’ve all tried study tricks to get good test results. But one that has been proven to work is scent. The ancient Greek and Roman scholars wore rosemary wreaths on their heads to enhance memory while studying, a notion a modern-day research also supports. A Cincinnati, Ohio,experimentshowed that peppermint oilgave test takers a 28 percent accuracy edge.

When complex aromas are inhaled, thousands of olfactory nerves in the nostrils send a myriad of messages to the brain which in turn spark neurotransmitters to fire–releasing chemicals – like encephalin, endorphins, serotonin and noradrenalinethat have profound physiological effects on the body and mind. In this way, essential oils can dramatically affect physical and mental well-being, including the ability to remember, focus and relax. A savvy student might well benefit from the practical skills of simply smelling inspiring essential oils while studying.

Study Time

Don't worry; you don't need to wear a laurel wreath to the classroom. Instead, use scents that can aid relaxation and inspire memory such as, rosemary or lavender.

Before studying, take a few moments to massage a relaxing oil like lavender or chamomile onto the back of your neck and shoulders, (use 1-3 drops essential oil per teaspoon of vegetable oil.) Then use an inspiringoil like rosemary or peppermint in a diffuser on your desk, or mist the air with an essential oil room spray while you study and inhale deeply.

When you're getting ready for school – especially on the day of the exam – place a cotton ball or handkerchief with a drop or two of oil in a small zip-top plastic bag. Before you take the test, remove the cotton ball and inhale the aroma, or place the cotton ball on your desk.

For Parents

Parents can help their kids in school with aromatherapy, too. Many parents say the massages have helped their children feel more at ease and stay healthier.Massages may not be part of the typical American curriculum, but young students can enjoy the benefits of essential oils. Try administering an aromatherapy massage to your young scholars before school to help calm anxiety, or send a cotton ball or scented handkerchief to school with them. The scent can be chosen to be calming, to improve alertness –(like after lunch), or whenever mental and physical energy might lag.

Essential Oils to Try

Experiment to find which oils bring enjoyment and success to study sessions and test times. A few to try using simple inhalation:

To improve concentration: Basil, cardamom, bergamot, cedarwood, lemon, grapefruit, peppermint, rosemary, cypress,ginger

To aid relaxation: Lavender, clary sage, geranium, ylang ylang, bergamot

To strengthen memory: Rosemary, basil, peppermint, lemon

Tier 2 – Recipe

Clarifying Study Blend

The mental clarity that this powerful blend inspires may help you recall the important details needed to ace a test or shine at your next presentation.Use this uplifting blend each morning to prepare for your day.

Ingredients

9 dropsrosemary essential oil
13 dropslemon essential oil
2 dropscypress essential oil

Directions

  1. Combine all oils.
  2. Try brief inhalations of the blend while committing facts and figures to memory, and again while trying to recall the information

Benefits

Refreshing