Summer’s here and for most people that means it’s vacation travel season. Whether you’re traveling by car or plane, going on a long trip or a weekend getaway, no matter what time of the year it is, it helps to be prepared for some of the unexpected upsets and minor ailments that can sometimes mar a perfectly good vacation.

The biggest of these is probably the stress that simply comes with travel — delayed, canceled, or missed flights, lost luggage or misplaced documents, a flat tire or other major car trouble, motion sickness, jet lag, and various camping-related mishaps.

Then there are the more common culprits like colds and allergies, upset stomach or digestive stress, headaches, insomnia, fatigue, minor cuts and bruises, blistered feet, rashes or hives, chafing, and sun burn.

There are a number of surprisingly simple ways you can use essential oils, alone or combined with other plant-based ingredients, to address these problems head on and avoid the kind of misery that can make you wish you’d stayed home.

1. Colds, Allergies and Sinus Congestion

With plants, flowers, and grasses in full bloom, pollen is everywhere making summertime synonymous with allergies. Then there’s the congestion that accompanies minor colds you can pick up from air-borne bacteria on planes, trains, and buses, not to mention airports and climate-controlled hotels. To minimize the likelihood of picking up someone else’s cold, wash hands frequently with soap and keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer (preferably one made with essential oils) with you for when you can’t.

To ease congestion, Eucalyptus Radiata essential oil is your best option. It is the gentlest and safest of the various types of Eucalyptus available and can be applied frequently without irritation. For a more powerful decongestant, try our Breathe Ease Diffuser Blend (see our Guide to Diffuser Blends for ingredients and suggested uses). In extreme cases, a trace amount of Peppermint essential oil applied to the back of the roof of your mouth can bring fast and effective relief.

2. Upset Stomach or Digestive Stress

There are several essential oils that can assist with stomach upset and indigestion including Sweet Fennel, Ginger, Lemon, Peppermint, and Tea Tree. For relief from minor nausea and indigestion, place 1 drop of peppermint and 2 drops of sweet fennel in 24 oz of purified water. This also makes a cool, refreshing drink that you can use in place of plain drinking water. For stronger, faster relief of indigestion or nausea, add a drop of peppermint or ginger to a teaspoon of honey and place in a cup of hot water or herbal tea (Chamomile, Ginger, or Licorice Root tea will increase the effectiveness). For fast relief from diarrhea, add one drop of tea tree oil to a cup of chamomile or peppermint tea (or hot water if no tea is available but be prepared for the unpleasant taste). Repeat until discomfort subsides.

3. Headaches and/or Insomnia

Lavender essential oil is a remarkably effective antidote to minor headaches and accompanying muscle tension, and can provide a sense of calm when you have difficulty sleeping in a strange or uncomfortable place. For relief from migraine headaches try our Head Ache Blend, which combines lavender with peppermint (a cooling analgesic), marjoram (a sedative and muscle relaxant), basil, and chamomile, and comes already diluted in Jojoba oil for direct application to the affected areas (temples, forehead, brows and neck muscles). For insomnia, try our Sleep Ease Diffuser Blend, which combines lavender, tangerine, marjoram, spruce, and petitgrain.

With the exceptions of lavender and tea tree, undiluted essential oils should be used with a portable diffuser. If you’re camping or somewhere where you can’t use a diffuser, put a drop or two on a handkerchief or bandanna and wrap around your head or tuck under your pillow and breathe in the vapors. Don’t over-use.

4. Fatigue

Jet lag, stress, long drives, and extended sight seeing excursions (especially on foot) can lead to exhaustion and fatigue. The best way to deal with this is to pace yourself, try not to cram your schedule with more activities than you can realistically handle, eat a good amount of protein (preferably at breakfast), and always stay hydrated. Essential oils that can help are Eucalyptus (mental clarity) and Peppermint (stimulant) or try our Stay Alert Diffuser Blend, which includes both along with Rosemary, Cinnamon Leaf, Orange, and Cedar wood. Use this with a Car Scenter diffuser to help you stay awake during long drives. To relieve tired and achy feet, put a drop in a tepid foot bath, or several drops in a tablespoon of carrier oil for a stimulating foot massage.

5. Minor Cuts, Scrapes and Other Skin Eruptions

Minor wounds (i.e. splinters, hang nails, insect bites, blisters, cuts, scrapes and burns) need to be disinfected and treated immediately or they can lead to painful inflammation and a variety of uncomfortable skin eruptions. This is when Tea Tree oil can become a reliable and trusty friend! It kills bacteria, cleanses wounds, and promotes speedy healing. Like Lavender, it can be applied “neat” (directly) to the skin. Think of it as an invisible liquid band aid. Our Boo Boo Blend, which combines tea tree with lavender, geranium, and chamomile (anti-inflammatory) is an excellent choice as well. For sunburn relief combine 1 teaspoon of Lavender or Boo Boo blend with 4 oz of aloe vera juice and store in a spritzer bottle. Substitute 1 oz of peppermint hydrosol for the aloe juice to enhance the cooling effect. Shake well and spray liberally –as often as needed to reduce pain and speed healing.

To summarize, the four key essential oils you need in your travel kit are: Peppermint (headaches, fatigue, indigestion, and congestion), Eucalyptus (congestion and fatigue), Tea Tree (diarrhea, cuts and wounds, disinfectant), and Lavender (headaches, skin eruptions and burns, stress, muscle tension, insomnia).

Copyright 2009 Dropwise Essentials

Donya Fahmy, is a green business owner and the creator of Dropwise Essentials’ spa-quality aromatherapy body products that help you safely relieve stress, increase vitality, improve confidence, or simply manage your emotional state any time or place without popping a pill. For more free tips and valuable information visit http://www.dropwise.com and subscribe to the Dropwise Health & Beauty News Ezine or blog feed.

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Contents of the Aromatherapy Kit

A basic level aromatherapy essential oil kit must comprise of three fundamental items. These may include aromatherapy decoder, diffuser and necessary essential oils. Depending on your personal preference, you may select essential oils according to your individual needs and preference. For instance, if you like to reduce stress, you must keep lavender essential oil in your aromatherapy essential oil kit.

Aromatherapy Decoder

One of the most important components of aromatherapy essential oil kit is the aromatherapy decoder. Aromatherapy decoder works like a chart that helps you to get useful information on different essential oils and their corresponding benefits. This decoder is designed in an easily readable and understandable format. If you are a novice, still you can take the true essence of the wonderful world of aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy Diffuser

There are a wide variety of diffusers available with aromatherapy essential oil kits. It can be candles formulated with essential oils, nebulizers, electric diffusers or delicately crafted pot used to hold the oil for heating in the tea light. Diffusers are an essential element in an aromatherapy essential oil kit mainly because of the fact that it helps in releasing the healing property of the essential oils.

Necessary Essential Oils

Although you may customize your selection, typically an aromatherapy essential oil kit contains few common essential oils such as rosemary, eucalyptus and lavender. Rosemary oil is effective for relieving congestion in the lung area. In addition, it is perfectly useful for alleviating the symptoms associated with fatigue and combating against counter staph and strep germs. In addition, eucalyptus can offer the same relief, however, with curative measure for arthritis.

On the other hand, lavender oil can be used to reduce stress and anxiety. It offers an excellent serene feeling. So when you take a bath using few drops of lavender oil in the bathing water, you can enjoy peaceful sleep during nights. Hence, you may have a basic understanding how an aromatherapy essential oil kit can offer you benefits. Even if you are a novice and interested to explore the vast world of aromatherapy, such an essential oil kit can be a good option for you.

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Significance of Essential Oils

Essential oil receives great significance in the domain of aromatherapy, since it helps in keeping us fresh and healthy. Essential oils are the extraction of plants or plant seeds, flowers, fruits, leaves, roots, barks and stalks. Now-a-days, an increased level of awareness is observed among the mass in order to attain natural and healthy lifestyle. It is mainly because natural products come without any adverse side effects, so is true with aromatherapy essential oils. No matter what your physical or psychological condition is, aromatherapy essential oils can always do the best for you.

Although essential oils have natural and healthy benefit, different essential oils influence our physiological as well as psychological state in different fashion. In addition, their potency also largely varies depending on the type of the essential oils used. Depending on their roots, these essential oils may have different beneficial properties – anti-bacterial, anti-viral, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory or diuretic. You may have an in-depth knowledge about the essential oils used in aromatherapy treatment from different alternative medicine books focusing on the complete and detailed guide to aromatherapy.

As found from the reports of various controlled studies and complete guide to aromatherapy, the benefits of essential oil are extensive. First of all, essential oils contribute widely in facilitating good health and it is one of the most effective and natural ways to restore and cure health, both at psychological and physiological level. With the help of aromatherapy treatment system, one can effectively combat against the harmful effect of polluted air and bad smell of obnoxious contaminants present in the air. However, there is no comparison between artificial air fresheners and the smell of essential oils, simply because there is nothing to compare with the fragrance of nature.

Functions of Aromatherapy

When you read the complete guide to aromatherapy, you can find how simple the application is compared to all other health-oriented therapies. Aromatherapy is nothing but bottling the beauty and benefit of nature. You may add few drops of essential oils in the bath water, or you may undergo through a massage therapy using essential oil. The experience is simply outstanding and beyond imagination. By reading thoroughly the complete guide to aromatherapy books, you may experience the benefit of aromatherapy at your own home. You may otherwise consult professionals in order to discover the wonderful universe of aromatherapy.

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Chinese Were The First To Use Aromatherapy

According to ancient history of aromatherapy, it was the Chinese who first began using aromatic plants because of the ability of essential oils to heal the body. In fact, the Chinese also believed that this could be achieved by burning incense which in turn would create a more harmonious atmosphere and which would also create a relaxation in the body. Later, the history of aromatherapy shows that the Egyptians pioneered the invention of techniques that allowed for the distillation of essential oils which could now be extracted even though the methods of distillation being used were still rather crude.

Used For Cosmetic As Well As Medicinal Purposes

In fact, some of the ancient Egyptian tombs which have been opened in modern times even have given off faint scents of herbs and revealed faint traces of herbs which go to show that the Egyptians indeed were among the first to make use of aromatherapy, and although it was rather crudely done, this has nevertheless been recorded in the continuing history of aromatherapy. In fact, the Egyptians combined essential oils with infused oils and used such combinations for cosmetics as well as for medicinal purposes. What’s more, the history of aromatherapy as ascribed to the Egyptians dates back as many as five thousand years back and even the term perfume can be attributed to the Egyptians.

Even the Greeks were not unaffected by aromatherapy and in fact, the history of aromatherapy also records them as being users of essential oils which they used for preserving foods, and also for medicinal purposes and it even was part of their religion as well as was used for cooking. In fact, ideas derived from aromatherapy were used by Greeks in designing as well as laying out their towns and this was evident from the fact that they left open spaces especially to allow for burning herbs which would ensure that the air remained free from all manner of germs.

Actually, the Greeks also learnt much about aromatherapy from the Egyptians, especially around the period 500B.C. when they set up medical schools on what was known as the Island of Cos, which school gave us Hippocrates, and this too is an important period in the history of aromatherapy.

Much later, the history of aromatherapy recorded how distillation techniques came to be improved by Persians and more particularly the Persian physician called Avicenna. Later, aromatic herbs came to be used during the infamous Bubonic Plague to disinfect the polluted air. In fact, the history of aromatherapy took another important turn in which aromatherapy now began to be linked to the health benefits of using essential oils, and this link has not been disproved even in our modern times.

However, the modern history of aromatherapy shows that aromatherapy is now mostly being used in the beauty industry and the health industry has not really taken to it like in the times of old.

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