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Can an Essential Oil Make You Smarter?

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All Posts, Essential Oils

Words: Jana Holstein

Is there anything essential oils can’t do?

Easing pain, healing wounds, improving sleep, reducing stress … the list goes on. But can essential oils really make you smarter? Improve your focus? Today, we try to uncover the potential brainpower behind Rosemary Essential Oil. 

Do you have a test coming up or an important presentation to give? Maybe you should slather on some rosemary scented lotion or put some in a diffuser.

Rosemary has been shown to help your brain perform better!

Essential oils have long been known to calm anxiety and help us focus. But to actually make us smarter? Yep, apparently so. A whiff of rosemary really could boost your performance at work or school.

Study Suggests Rosemary Oil Can Improve Performance

According to WebMD, a recent study suggests that the pungent and pine-like scent of rosemary oil may improve speed and accuracy when performing certain mental tasks.

Twenty people were asked to perform subtraction exercises and a task to see how quickly they could process new information before and after being exposed to the scent of rosemary in their work stations. Researchers measured participants’ blood levels of 1, 8-cineole, rosemary’s main chemical component, after the experiment.

The study showed that the higher their blood levels of this compound, the better the participants scored on these tasks. Speed and accuracy got better, but the oil did not seem to improve alertness.

Does Rosemary Make You Feel More Content?

They also found that not only did rosemary make some of the participants smarter; it made them feel more content. Exactly how rosemary can improve mental ability is not fully understood, but let’s face it, if contentment can improve my brainpower, I’m in!

So next time you have a big test coming up or need some extra brainpower at work, don’t forget to pack your rosemary essential oil!

 

Essential Oil Basics

Want to learning about essential oil basics? Explore our Guide to Essential Oils for further reading, infographics, and more.

NOTE: Always test a small area of your skin first, to check for sensitivity. Please avoid contact with eyes and approach all oils with extreme caution if you have any skin allergies. Please seek professional advice prior to using essential oils while pregnant or nursing.

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One thought on “Can an Essential Oil Make You Smarter?”

  1. I love essential oils, have for a long time. I’ve been experimenting with different combinations & testing them myself. The results are amazing. I hope to market them when i’m done. But, i do love all yor articles & i enjoy making them.