Terpenes are a natural part of many essential oils. They are what is responsible for the smell and flavor, as well as many of the benefits! Terpenes have a wide variety of benefits, including their ability to help relieve stress and anxiety, improve mood, combat insomnia, reduce inflammation and pain, relieve headaches, boost immunity, and more.
How do terpenes work? What are the benefits of essential oils with terpenes? This blog post will explore everything about these aromatic compounds.
What are Terpenes?
Terpenes are the natural chemical compounds that give essential oils their scent and taste.
Terpenes are found in many different plants. One terpene that you might have heard of is limonene, which gives lemons their scent and flavor!
Some of the most common terpenes are:
- Limonene: found in many citrus fruits, peppermint, tea tree oil, rosemary, lavender, and pine needle oil
- Alpha Pinene: found in pine, rosemary, and cajeput oil
- Beta-terpinene: found in tea tree essential oil
- Beta-Caryophyllene: found in pepper essential oil
- Linalool: found in lavender, and petitgrain oils
- Myrcene: found in ylang-ylang, juniper berry, and hops
- Humulene: found in clove oil
Benefits of Terpenes
Terpenes not only give essential oils their smell and taste, but they also have many health benefits.
When terpenes are inhaled in the form of essential oil, some terpenoids will act as bronchodilators to open up airways that may be constricted due to environmental sensitivities or allergies.
Others can help with anxiety by promoting relaxation while others promote a sense of focus and clarity.
Myrcene tends to be sedative while linalool is a relaxing essential oil.
Essential oils with terpene compounds such as limonene help break down other toxins in the body by stimulating liver enzymes for detoxification purposes.
Furthermore, terpinolene is shown to have antimicrobial properties which help fight bacteria like MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus).
How to use essential oils with terpenes
Choose an essential oil that contains terpenes that offer the benefits you are looking for. And then decide if you want to apply it topically to the skin, or use it in aromatherapy.
Topical Application
Applying terpenes in essential oils to the skin can be done through a variety of methods.
First, you must be using pure and unadulterated terpene-containing essential oil with no other additives or chemicals as this will dilute the effectiveness of terpenoids.
It’s also recommended that you use carrier oils like almond, coconut, olive, grapeseed, or jojoba for your topical application to avoid any irritation from rubbing straight essential oils on the skin.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is another way to experience terpenes without having to ingest them and has many benefits such as decreasing stress levels while promoting relaxation.
Most people use a diffuser to evaporate terpenes into the air. This provides therapeutic benefits to those in the surrounding area.
Choose good quality essential oils
When buying essential oils, it’s important to choose quality products from trusted sources.
Many essential oils are diluted or adulterated with other substances that can reduce the effectiveness of terpenes.
There is a lot to consider when choosing essential oils such as quality, purity, and cost so be sure you do your research before buying!
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