If you’re no stranger to natural living, you’ve probably already read a recommendation or two about using essential oil diffusers to improve your health, increase your energy, or to help you sleep better. The fact is, these handy little devices are great for all of those things and more. While the list of possible uses for a diffuser is quite extensive, we’ve narrowed it down to (what we consider to be) the top 10 reasons to own an essential oil diffuser and use it every day
1. Relaxation and Sleep
One of the best and most well-known uses for essential oils is their ability to help you unwind at the end of a hard day. While there are several other methods for getting your soothing oils from the bottle into your blood stream where they start to work their magic, the diffuser is by far the easiest and longest-lasting of them all. Keep one at the office to help you relax on your lunch break. Have a diffuser ready to go with the push of a button when you get home from work in the evening. Set one on the bedside table to help your mind and body relax so you can sleep better at night.
Recommended oils: chamomile, lavender, clary sage
Get more expert tips on how to catch some high-quality zzz’s (from a former insomniac) with these 11 Natural Sleep Remedies That Really Work!
2. Mood Elevating
Just as a diffuser can help you to de-stress, they can also be used to create an energizing mood. This is not only great for when you’re feeling sad or depressed. You can use your diffuser to inspire high spirits during the holidays, to set a positive atmosphere for business meetings and social gatherings, to help you get moving on a slow morning, or even to create a romantic atmosphere for that special someone in your life.
Recommended oils: sweet orange, jasmine, rose, scotch pine, sandalwood, vanilla
3. Ward Off Illness
Using a diffuser in your home or office is a great way to keep cold, flu, and other nasty illnesses at bay that works on three levels. First, many essential oils are powerfully anti-microbial and when introduced into the air in vapor form, the organic compounds within the oils come into direct contact with airborne pathogens before they can invade your body. Second, essential oils can also be used to boost the immune system. Last but not least, some diffusers also double as humidifiers which will help to keep your airways moist and healthy so you are less susceptible to any microbes that do make it into your body.
Recommended oils: tea tree, sage, rosemary, grapefruit, lemon, thyme
4. Helps You Breathe Easier
Essential oils are great for reducing inflammation and congestion in clogged airways to help you breathe more easily. If you are prone to allergies or other breathing disorders, try diffusing essential oils in the room (or rooms) of your home where you spend the most time. Just remember to keep a box of tissues handy as your nose and sinuses begin to open so you can also avoid that mad dash to the bathroom!
Recommended oils: peppermint, rosemary, lemon, eucalyptus
Want more tips on how to naturally improve air quality so you can breathe better and be healthier? Our wildly popular 10 Reasons To Have A Himalayan Pink Salt Lamp In Every Room Of Your Home is an absolute must-read!
5. Pain Relief
While most people will tell you to apply essential oils directly to the body for pain relief, you can also use a diffuser to extend their effects. This method is an excellent way to combat persistent pain such as that caused by headaches, sore joints, and overworked muscles.
Recommended oils: ginger, chamomile, lavender, eucalyptus, clary sage, rosemary, bergamot
Also, be sure to check out these 14 Effective Natural Remedies To Relieve Joint Pain to learn more about using natural home-remedies in lieu of chemical-laden pain meds!
6. Improve Cognitive Function
Using essential oils in a diffuser is a highly-effective way to super-charge your brain cells. Again, this effect works on multiple levels. First, many essential oils have adaptogenic qualities – meaning that they are soothing when you’re stressed, but they can also give you a pick-me-up when you’re feeling down or sluggish. By leveling out your mood, the oils in the air will help you to focus. Also, there are several essential oils which are known for their powerful ability to balance the body’s hormones. With regular use, these oils can actually help to heal the underlying causes responsible for hampering cognitive function.
Recommended oils: peppermint, eucalyptus, lemon, pine
7. Safer Alternative to Candles & Incense
If you have pets or small children, burning candles or incense can be a potentially hazardous practice. With an essential oil diffuser, you can reap the benefits of aromatherapy – and to much greater effect – without the risk of burns, wax spills, or other accidents.
Recommended oils: any
8. Repel Insects
Whether your problem is mosquitoes, house flies, fruit flies or moths, you can use essential oils in your diffuser to deter these critters from entering your home.
Recommended oils: clove, lemongrass, rosemary, cedarwood
Arm yourself against the swarms of creepy crawlies this spring and summer with these 6 Fragrant Herbs & Plants That Repel Flies and 13 Natural Ways To Keep Mosquitoes Away!
9. Keeps You Cool
(While it might make you appear more eco-savvy to your friends and family, that’s not the kind of ‘cool’ we’re referring to.)
In the heat of the summer months, running the air conditioner all day and all night is a surefire way to send your electric bill through the roof. Instead, try diffusing your favorite crisp, cooling minty essential oils in the rooms where you spend the most time to help you beat the heat.
Recommended oils: peppermint, eucalyptus, spearmint, wintergreen
10. Saves Money
So far we’ve covered the top nine reasons that owning a diffuser is an investment in your health and well-being, but it’s more than just that. With all of the versatile uses for essential oil diffusers around the home which ultimately lead to less doctor visits, lower electric bills, fewer cups of coffee and better productivity; you will soon discover that this handy little device is a money-saver as well!
During the cold winter months, many ailments may become pronounced due to the cold dry air. Even in climates where there is moisture in the outside air, the heating systems in your home and office tend to dry the interior air, which may lead to problems for many.
Humidifiers can be a great solution for many of these winter-related problems. Here’s seven benefits that come along with using a humidifier in your home or office during these cold, winter months.
1. Helps Prevent the Spread of Airborne Viruses
A recent study found that raising indoor humidity levels to at least 43% had a dramatic effect on approximately 85% of airborne viruses, rendering them them virtually ineffective. As a result, researchers are now contemplating increasing the humidity levels in hospitals across the nation, as an extra method of protecting doctors, nurses and visitors from also getting sick.
Moisture has the ability to prevent the movement of germs, as they combine with this moisture and simply drop. This happens because the airborne particles are now too heavy to float around in the air. In turn, this helps prevent the spread of many illnesses, including influenza. This is precisely why one of the main benefits of a humidifier is increasing the overall humidity levels in a room or in a home.
2. Helps Prevent Snoring
By using a humidifier to add moisture to the air, you create a more favorable scenario that may help soothe the tissues at the back of your throat. Not only will this help you sleep more comfortably, it can also help cut down on your snoring. Additionally, running the humidifier throughout the day is also beneficial, as it may help your throat stay moist and prevent the irritation that is commonly associated with snoring.For those who breathe through their mouth, it is almost impossible to prevent dryness from settling in. This is especially true when you’re sleeping.
3. Prevent Dry Skin
Because 50–60% of the human body is made of water, dry conditions may pull moisture out leaving behind dry skin, chapped lips and possibly even bloodshot eyes. Our bodies rely on the correct amount of water to feel good, not to mention function at an optimal level. Because our skin has so much surface area, it is often the place that we notice first when we are in extremely dry conditions. Lips and eyes also show irritation when not properly hydrated.
Running a humidifier can help prevent your skin from drying out. The added moisture in the air may help improve your dry or itchy skin, peeling or chapped lips and dry eye irritation.
4. Helps Your Home Feel Warmer
Studies have shown that humidified air may actually feel warmer than dry air. This can be attributed to the fact that with more water in the air, sweat evaporates more slowly, leaving people feeling warmer. As a result, homeowners may be able to save on their heating bills. With the warmer feel of the air, thermostats can be lowered, thus conserving energy and saving money.
5. May Relieve Allergy Symptoms
Modern humidifiers are a great way to help alleviate the symptoms of allergies. While humidifiers of the past may have put far too much humidity into the air, which could encourage the spread of house dust mites, newer models can be set to lower levels that will not create an environment that is favorable to these unwelcomed house guests. Allergy sufferers tend to feel more comfortable with heightened humidity, as it may help soothe the tissues in the throat and nasal passages.
6. Prevents Static
Static electricity is often increased in dry winter months. This electricity can be annoying when associated with your laundry or frizzy hair. Even worse, built up static can even damage sensitive electronics; even create sparks which could damage flammable gas or dust. Properly humidified air has the ability to limit, even prevent most problems that come from static.
7. Prevents Damage to Wood
Dry air can also cause damage to wood furniture, drying it out and making it crack. It can loosen joints in a wood floor. Doors made of wood can change in size making them difficult to open and close, and the legs and arms on chairs may begin to wobble as the joints loosen. This is all because wood needs a constant level of moisture to be at its best. A humidifier, when used properly, can ensure that the wood features in your home and furniture will look their best.
From preventing illnesses to preventing static, from helping your hair to look better to helping your wood look better, a humidifier is a tool that is very useful, especially during the dry winter months. Humidifiers may help to save money on a heating bill as well as on electronics which might have been damaged by static. Investing in a humidifier is an investment in protecting those you love, and those things you own.
Winter air is dry air. Humidifiers put moisture back into the air, which can create a lot of benefits for you and your family.
A 2013 study, for example, showed that increasing humidity levels to 43 percent or above significantly reduced the ability of airborne viruses to cause flu infections. In fact, in a low humidity environment, 70-77 percent of viruses could transmit the disease through coughs, but when humidity was increased to 43 percent or more, that number dropped to only 14 percent.
An earlier 2009 study showed similar results, with humidity limiting the transmission of the influenza virus.
Getting a humidifier may help you avoid getting sick this winter, but it can also give you softer, more glowing skin, and even help preserve your real wood furniture.
10 Benefits of Using a Humidifier
- Reduce risk of infections. Viruses and bacteria can’t travel as well in moist air. A humidifier could mean the difference between getting the flu this winter and remaining healthy.
- Softer, more vibrant skin. Cold, dry air saps moisture from your skin, which causes all kinds of problems, including dryness, dullness, flaking, and accelerated aging. A humidifier can help prevent all these damaging effects, and help you maintain that glowing, vibrant look for all your holiday parties and get-togethers.
- Comfortable sinuses. You know that dry, tight feeling you get in your nose in the winter? Even if you don’t have a cold (it’s worse when you do), winter air can dry out your sinuses, lowering your resistance to bacteria and viruses. Sleep with a humidifier and wake up with a more comfortable nose—and throat!
- Faster healing times. Say you do end up with a cold, a sinus infection, or the flu. A humidifier will shorten your suffering. Keeping your nasal passages and your throat moist will help you heal faster, and will reduce symptoms like coughing and sneezing.
- Healthier houseplants. Plants help pull toxins out of the air. But they can suffer in dry, winter air. Have you noticed that the soil is dryer than usual? Are the leaves looking droopy and sick? A humidifier can help keep your houseplants healthy—which helps keep you healthy, too!
- Protected wood furnishings. Dry air can damage wood furniture, as well as moldings and doors, causing them to split and crack. A humidifier can help preserve the integrity of the wood, maintaining your pieces for years to come.
- No growling morning voice. Do you often sound like a bear in the mornings? That’s dry air getting to your vocal cords. Sound more like your normal self when you sleep overnight with a humidifier in your bedroom!
- Reduced heating bill. Did you know that moist air feels warmer than dry air? It’s true. If you add some moisture to the air, it will feel warmer, which can help you save on your heating bills this winter.
- Fewer electric shocks. No one likes a static electricity shock—especially not the cat! But you may have noticed that in the winter, it’s harder to avoid it. That’s the dry air again. Use a humidifier and leave the lightning outside.
- Improved sleep. If you or a partner snores, a humidifier may help. We tend to snore more if our sinuses and throats are dry. A moist environment also tends to feel warmer and more comfortable, which can encourage a good night’s sleep.
