Autism & Essential Oils: A Guide to The Best Oils For ASD and Sensory Issues
For several years, essential oils have been used to relieve all sorts of illnesses and promote autoimmune health. During the last decade, the essential oil industry has gained popularity among the autistic community as an alternative natural way to support health in children on the spectrum.
Today, we will analyze the benefits, and recommendations to implement essential oil into your child’s routine.
What Are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are the natural oil extract obtained from different plants. Their popularity has been growing due to the numerous ways that they can be used, ranging from perfumes, cosmetics, aromatherapy, and lately in the wellness and health sector.
What Are The Benefits of Essential Oils?
Although essential oils are most commonly used in aromatherapy, they possess incredible benefits for the health that can benefit the whole family. Among their main benefits are:
- Relaxation.
- Better sleep.
- Hormone regulation.
- Mood regulation.
- Increased immunity.
- Increased recovery.
- Pain relief.
- Risen energy.
- Improved cognitive function.
- Better gut functioning.
- Eased anxiety.
- Pain relief.
- and many more.
How Can Essential Oils Be Used?
There are three main ways in which you can properly/safely use essential oils:
1.-Inhalation: Diffusing oils in a diffuser is the most popular way to do it. If you are on the go, you can take the aroma with you impregnated in a piece of cloth or simply by dissolving it in water and putting in a small bottle to spray it over clothes, furniture, etc.
2.- Absorption: In order to properly apply essential oils directly to the skin, you need to apply first a coat of organic base oil to prepare the skin and avoid burning/rashes. Organic coconut oil is a great way to protect your children skin while moisturizing and obtaining the benefits from the oils. Dissolution can be another way to use it, however, it is better to apply them over oily bases to conserve their properties on the skin.
3.- Ingestion: This is the least recommended way to use essential oils due to the risk of intoxication if the dosage is incorrect. We highly recommend you to visit your family doctor before giving your child any supplement, oil, or vitamin.
Are Essential Oils Beneficial for Autistic Children?
Essential oils can be incredibly beneficial for children on the autism spectrum and their families. Their calming effect can be extremely useful to reduce stress and alleviate autism anxiety, insomnia, muscle tension, and regulate over-excitement in the brain, etc.
Best Essential Oils For Children On The Spectrum
Among the most recommended oils for autistic children you will find:
- Lavender Oil: Calming effect, soothes the mind, and reduces insomnia.
- Peppermit Oil: Improves mental concentration, focus, and overall mental performance.
- Bergamot Oil: Reduces mental tension, stress, and anxiety.
- Roman Chamomile Oil: Eases anxiety, paranoia, hostility, and reduces overall stress, hence can be used to fight insomnia.
- Wild Orange Oil: Mood booster, reduces stress, and anxiety.
- Jasmine Oil: Regulates stress, anxiety, and over-excitement.
- Vetiver Oil: Stabilizes emotions.
- Frankincense Oil: Reduces anxiety, stress, and anger while improving brain functioning.
Tips To Make The Most Out of Essential Oils
Now that you know the amazing benefits that essential oils can offer, make sure to follow our tips to make the most out of them!
1.- Chose The Best: Since they can be applied directly on the skin, quality matters. Cheap brands can use harmful chemicals that damage the purity of the oil, so we highly encourage you to make a good investment and pick up only organic, certified brands.
2.- One At The Time: It is really easy to get excited and go for a full package of essential oils at once, but it is important to use one at the time to actually observe their benefits in your child and his/her improvements with each one of them.
3.- Use Glass Containers: If you are creating your own blends, make sure to use sterilized glass containers to store them in. If you use plastic ones you run the risk of damaging the purity of the oils due to the harmful chemicals present in plastic.
4.- Do Not Use Them If Pregnant/Breastfeeding: We highly encourage you to ask your family doctor before using them if you are in pregnant or breastfeeding.
5.- Be Careful with Sensory Sensitivity: Many children on the spectrum have a hard time using essential oils due to sensory sensitivity issues. The answer for this is to dilute the oils to reduce their smell, or you can try to rub them on your child’s feet at night before going to sleep.
Essential oils can be a great way to improve your child’s mood and ease stress in a natural, organic way. Remember that sometimes children do not like certain smells (and that’s okay!) just try to find a smell that he/she can tolerate to make it a pleasant experience.
At WSCC, we offer support for autistic families and their children with Stem Cell Therapy treatments that can transform autistic conditions by healing the gut, decreasing inflammation and improving brain function. We also created an autistic community on Facebook that is destined to offer support and companionship for ASD parents and their families on their journey.
Remember, you are not alone!
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