The Best Essential Oils for Anxiety and Stress 

These are the best essential oils for anxiety and stress that will help you feel calmer and more relaxed.

Whether it’s the daily grind of working life, demanding children, or relationship issues, we’ve all got our reasons for experiencing stress and anxiety from time to time.

But rather than letting your emotions get the better of you, adding a few drops of your favourite essential oils to a diffuser, your pulse points, or into a warm bath, is a fantastic way to soothe an overactive mind and help you refocus. 

Below are the best essential oils for anxiety and soothing feelings of stress and anxiety, to help you sleep, or just to help you feel refreshed and invigorated, no matter what the day throws your way.

The Best Essential Oils for Anxiety, Sleep and Stress

1. Lavender

Lavender is probably the most popular essential oil around and is well-known for being one of the best essential oils for sleep and enhancing relaxation. 

The soothing scent is wonderful for promoting peace and calm and can reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. It’s also believed to effectively treat physical ailments such as allergies, fungal infections, nausea, and even menstrual cramps. 

(MORE: How the Menopause Affects Sleep)

2. Bergamot

Bergamot is most frequently used in aromatherapy to treat stress and anxiety and is a fantastic mood lifter. This scent doesn’t just “feel good”; it’s actually been proven to have stress-busting and mood-lifting properties in a physical sense:

• Reducing blood pressure
• Lowering heart rate
• Regulating breathing
• Increasing your body’s production of serotonin and dopamine (the “happy” hormones)

This essential oil is also famous for its antiseptic, antispasmodic, and analgesic (pain-relieving) properties and may also help lower cholesterol.

3. Yuzu

This Japanese citrus fruit offers a similar fragrance to a grapefruit, with notes of mandarin, lime, and bergamot for a fresh and relaxing aroma. In ancient Japan, a hot yuzu bath on the winter solstice was believed to ward off winter colds and flu. 

It’s still used today to help clear infections, soothe sore muscles, relieve inflammation, improve circulation, and support healthy digestion. For the mind, yuzu is emotionally calming and uplifting and has been linked to creative inspiration as it opens the left side of the brain.

4. Ylang-ylang

Ylang-ylang is one of our all-time favourite essential oils, and we rarely make a blend without it. This beautiful fragrance is perfect for a wide range of emotional and physical benefits, including reducing depression, stress, and anxiety, as well as their sister symptoms of headaches and insomnia. 

Physically, the aroma can help lower blood pressure and heart rates, and is commonly used to treat fevers, athlete’s foot, coughs, colds, and can even repel flying insects!

5. Frankincense

Frankincense has been utilised in religious and spiritual rituals for over 3,000 years for everything from stress relief to beautifying the skin and even enhancing the immune system. 

This essential oil has fantastic pain-relieving properties for the body and mind and is well-established as an excellent stress reliever. It’s also believed that frankincense may contain properties that could fight certain cancers and reduce joint inflammation caused by arthritis.

6. Rose

Calming rose makes some of the best essential oils for stress and depression relief, as well as an aphrodisiac to increase libido. 

It can also reduce pain and help heal wounds. When applied to the skin, rose can help hydrate, clear acne, reduce the appearance of scars, minimise fine lines and wrinkles, and is an excellent treatment for skin conditions such as eczema or rosacea. 

This floral essential oil is commonly used in aromatherapy to aid with grief, nervous tension, coughs, and skin health.

7. Chamomile

Chamomile tea is commonly recommended for people with insomnia or who need something soothing and calming. But chamomile is also one of the best essential oils for anxiety, stress, and even sleep. 

Not only does chamomile soothe the mind, but it can also help reduce feelings of anger and irritability and can aid with depression. 

Chamomile also offers a range of physical health benefits, including removing toxins, preventing infections, wound healing, and easing skin conditions such as eczema or rashes. It also has anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties.

8. Jasmine

Jasmine is one of the best essential oils for anxiety and stress and is a known antidepressant. It’s also regarded as an aphrodisiac and is a known mood-booster. 

While jasmine is an effective essential oil for sleep and treating insomnia, it can also boost energy levels and may even reduce menopausal symptoms and regulate periods. 

Jasmine can also promote healthy-looking, glowing skin, reducing the appearance of blemishes, fine lines, and wrinkles.

9. Lemon

Pregnant women will particularly love lemon essential oils, as a few drops can help ease morning sickness, relieve pain, and minimise symptoms of colds. 

This uplifting fragrance is also brilliant for helping you feel more energised and refreshed and is frequently used to reduce anxiety and depression as it’s a natural mood booster. 

Lemon essential oils can also be a valuable treatment for acne and other skin conditions and may even help heal wounds.

10. Lemongrass

Lemon and lemongrass are both fantastic essential oils for anxiety and stress as they’re natural mood boosters.

Lemongrass also offers added benefits of antibacterial properties, which are fantastic for easing stomach aches, nausea, diarrhoea, and ulcers, in addition to combating fungal infections, reducing inflammation, and even relieving some arthritis symptoms. 

For the mind, lemongrass can reduce feelings of nervousness and aid with mental fatigue or burnout to help you feel more energised and in control.

11. Orange

Another uplifting scent is orange essential oil, which is fantastic for lifting your mood, reducing stress, and improving symptoms of depression. 

Sweet orange essential oils are probably more popular and accessible, but bitter orange is also a fantastic essential oil for anxiety and stress. Both options are great for promoting happy moods, listing the spirits, and enhancing calmness. 

So, it really comes down to which scent you prefer. Besides being a natural mood booster, orange essential oils also contain antibacterial properties, so they’re brilliant for aiding skin blemishes and can be a beneficial digestive aid.  

 

How to Use Essential Oils for Anxiety and Stress

These beautiful and relaxing aromas are all sure to help you feel uplifted and less anxious. 

Apply a few drops to your bath, essential oil diffuser, or on your pulse points for immediate feelings of wellbeing and contentment. 

Check out our amazing collection of Sensory Retreats products where you’ll find a range of wellbeing products featuring luxurious aromatherapy oils. 

(MORE: How To Get More Energy)