How Much and How Often?

We are going to talk about dosage, frequency and best practices.

To get optimal benefits from using essential oils here are some things to consider:

CONSISTENT USE

Use Consistently.  The oils can be metabolized quickly so you should use the essential oils on a regular consistent basis for best results.

DILUTION

Diluting essential oils a little helps them stay on the skin longer.  In fact, some essential oils need to be diluted to be effective.  Some ‘hot’ or ‘spicy’ oils need to be diluted when using topically on sensitive skin.  Soothing blend is an example of a ‘hot’ oil.  Dilute essential oils with a lotion or a carrier oil such as Fractionated Coconut oil.

TAKE ONE THING AT A TIME

Address issues singularly —don’t try to fix all your health issues in one go.  Look at what is most urgent and work on that first.  You’ll find that as you go, the other issues either disappear without much effort because they may be connected to the first issue.

LOOK AT THE BIG WELLNESS PICTURE

Always take the big picture fundamental approach— almost all ailments have many causes.  So be fully aware of other potential causes: the role of toxins in your environment, pro-inflammatory and toxic foods and drink you take in, cleaning products you come in contact with, your feelings & emotions, electromagnetic exposure, foreign invaders (such as fungus, parasites, bacteria, or viruses), excess stress, lack of sleep, and inability to rest and repair.

These are all factors which play a part in everyone’s health.  When we reduce toxins, manage stress, get quality sleep, etc. our body can heal properly.  Applying essential oils will be most effective when addressing the holistic wellness picture.

PROPER DOSAGE AND FREQUENCY

Be sensible and adjust the amounts of oils you use accordingly.  Also be mindful of how often you apply or don’t apply.

Our body has a finite ability to metabolize.  Pure essential oils are safe to use and guidelines provide boundaries to keep the use free of discomfort.  However, even good things become less effective if they are not used intelligently and with moderation.  For example, we can put ourselves in a coma simply by drinking 5 gallons of water in one go.

The same is true for essential oils.  When determining your dosage, you need to ask the difficult question, “How much does your body need?,” or, “What is your Therapeutic Range?”  There is a magical amount of essential oils that your body will respond to with optimal therapeutic benefit.  Your job is to find that range and stay within it.

There are four scenarios:

• Insufficient Dose: If your dose is not high enough, you will not experience any benefit
• Optimal Dose: This is the sweet spot.  This falls in the therapeutic range, which provides the ultimate therapeutic benefit
• Large Dose: As the dose gets larger, it rises above the therapeutic range, and thus the benefit you experience begins to decline
• Way too much: As the dosage increases, your body is busy metabolizing the essential oils and you may receive no therapeutic benefit. ​​

Find your therapeutic benefit range.  We are all unique so practice using the oils until you find your therapeutic range.  Start with a drop or two and increase it until you find the range that is right for you.  Let yourself tap into your power of intuition.
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Your body will metabolize and remove the essential oil within 4-6 hours.

When you first apply your essential oils, the levels of essential oils in your body will rise, then as your body metabolizes them, those levels will fall.

The trick is to space out your application, so that you maintain or sustain the amount of essential oils in your body in the therapeutic range.  This is what is meant by being consistent.

Start with 1 drop depending on the mode of application, then experiment.  This is a process and may take time to detect your therapeutic range.

That is one of the fun things about essential oils: you adjust it like you adjust a fine tool or an instrument.  It is so gratifying and empowering that we have these tools to improve and maintain our wellness.