Best Essential Oils for Anxiety & Panic Attacks

Hi, Dr. Josh Axe here, doctor of natural medicine and founder of draxe.com. Hey, in today's video, I'll be talking about the best essential oils to use to help you overcome anxiety and panic attacks. And you know, there are 40 million people across America that struggle with panic attacks right now.

And I'm going to go into the best essential oils and some herbs that can really sort of help lift your mood, reduce that stress. And listen, when somebody has anxiety, that can oftentimes be an indicator That maybe cortisol levels are too high. And also, a lot of people don't realize that anxiety itself also can cause disease in certain organs. In fact, anxiety is also oftentimes a form of fear.

And I want you to think about this. If you have somebody that gets really scared, oftentimes they can do something to themselves, especially little kids. If there's a lot of fear there, they can actually wet themselves.

And so if someone has a lot of fear they have built up in their life for a long time, It actually causes kidney and bladder issues over time, can cause reproductive organ issues, and a whole lot more.

So listen, there's actually some deeper things going on with anxiety, but the good news is there's some diet things and some things you can do with essential oils to really help turn that tide and start reducing any type of anxiety if you're having that on a regular basis.

So again, number here to say this again, 40 million American adults suffer with clinically diagnosed anxiety on a regular basis. Anxiety can impact your job, your school performance, especially relationships. And chronic anxiety can also lead to other medical conditions like high blood pressure, insomnia, digestive disorders, panic attacks, and other medical conditions.

So let's jump in and talk about some of the best essential oils to help you overcome anxiety. Number 1 here is vetiver oil. Now, vetiver is a grass that has a very Very earthy, musky scent to it. And this oil, actually in a clinical study done on children with ADHD, was shown to have a 100% effective rating on helping improve ADHD.

Now, that doesn't mean that ADHD after the study, all kids with ADHD had it eliminated. It meant that everyone saw improvements in some form when they used vetiver essential oil. So vetiver oil, I think it's a great oil to diffuse. And so you can just simply diffuse it at a desk.

But this is probably the number one essential oil that can be used to really support the brain and focusing, better focus. Here as well, you can see here, it's good for emotional stress, trauma, anxiety, insomnia, hysteria, depression, and a whole lot more. But again, this is a great essential oil to diffuse.

Now, if you use it topically, this oil is good to use with a carrier oil like coconut oil, olive oil, or even something like jojoba oil. All right, next oil here that's effective at treating anxiety is is bergamot oil. Now, in general, all citrus oils have an uplifting effect.

Citrus oils contain a compound called d-limonene, and d-limonene has been shown in clinical studies to fight a number of diseases. It's also been shown to help support lymphatic drainage. So if you ever get, you know, those swollen lymph nodes in your neck, limonene or any sort of citrus oils like bergamot can really support your body in detoxifying your lymphatic system.

But it's been shown to help release emotional pain. So part of the reason why you know that you have those higher levels of anxiety or some of the panic you're experiencing, doing some bergamot oil can really just kind of help settle things down and sometimes can help you experience an emotional breakthrough. I would encourage you to do this.

If you have anxiety, take time right now and write down what is the root cause of that anxiety. There's something going on maybe right now in your life. But what was something that happened in the past or why do you have anxiety on a regular basis? Write that down and then create a plan to combat it, scheduling more free time.

Maybe it's getting involved in a local support group or church or seeing a counselor, something that's going to help you experience that breakthrough. But bergamot oil, great oil to use topically as long as you don't go in the sun actually. You don't want to wear citrus oils in the sun, but it's great for topically, it's great To use as diffusing it as well.

You can even do between 1 and 3 drops internally once to twice daily. All right, patchouli oil. Now, patchouli oil is a really unique oil. It comes from a leaf and it actually helps support the production of serotonin and dopamine in your body.

So if you've ever been out running or exercising and you got that sort of runner's high or just you're having a good day, those are those endorphins, those good mood hormones like serotonin. And this actually surprises a lot of people, 90% of serotonin is released in your gut, not your brain. And so this is also why it's important to have a healthy gut.

And patchouli actually has strong anti-inflammatory benefits, so it actually supports your gut health as well as health of the brain and actually can help really settle those nerves by allowing your body to produce more of these endorphins and good mood hormones like serotonin.

And this is a great one to do in a bath, 5 to 10 drops of patchouli, maybe mix that with some Epsom salts in the bath, soak in a few times a week, great way to use this powerful essential oil. Our next essential oil here is Roman chamomile. Now, Roman chamomile is probably the most calming of all the oils.

So especially if you are having a panic attack, you just really feel your heart is racing, you're having— and even things like paranoia and fear. Chamomile is a really good essential oil to use. Now, for thousands of years, people have used chamomile oil and chamomile herbal tea to settle the nerves, to improve insomnia, get a better night's sleep.

But this is a great essential oil for really calming things down. If you know that you are sort of in that fight-or-flight response, high cortisol, just you're even frazzled, just a lot going on emotionally, you want to settle it down, Roman chamomile is a good choice. You could do 1 to 2 drops internally in a glass of hot tea.

Or one of the best ways, just putting several drops, I'd recommend about 3 to 5 drops on your hands, start wiping it on your temples and then just all around your neck. So the neck area is going to be one of the best areas. And sometimes you can just do a single drop and just wipe it on the— just sort of like right under your nose.

You know, one of the benefits of essential oils, essential oils contain compounds that are about 1,000 times smaller than other fats. So we call them oils, but when we're comparing the oils of let's say chamomile oil to like an olive oil. The molecules in olive oil, they are much larger.

This is why, like, I mean, you can smell, like, if you smell peppermint or ginger or something, you can smell some of these things from across the room. What you're smelling, those are those aromatic compounds, those are the essential oils.

So again, diffusing the oils, they're so small that many of them can pass, some of them can pass through the blood-brain barrier, many of them can get in your bloodstream because they're so small. But again, chamomile, great. Both as a tea and as an essential oil for promoting a restful state and getting rid of paranoia, aggression, and any of those similar properties. All right, frankincense oil.

I have a saying, when in doubt, frankincense. Frankincense has been used for really almost since the beginning of time as far as we know that's been documented. And frankincense oil is actually the most referenced essential oil in the Bible. And oftentimes it was used, and that's actually where we get the word incense, frankincense. Oftentimes it was burned as an incense.

And this was done in the church, it was used throughout Jewish history, the Egyptians used frankincense very often, but it was used during a religious ceremony. Now, oftentimes it's been linked to spiritual awareness is the term, and spiritual awareness may be your ability to sort of connect with God, but medical studies show that frankincense contains a compound called myrcene. Okay.

Pinene, and pinene actually can help reduce inflammation of the brain. And so think about that, if somebody has inflammation of their sort of neurological system, being able to reduce that inflammation allows people to get rid of brain fog, allows them to have clearer thinking. So frankincense can have a lot of benefits because of its balancing and anti-inflammatory properties.

You can see here, it's actually been shown in clinical studies to reduce heart rate and blood pressure. If somebody's struggling with anxiety, I recommend doing about 5 drops in a diffuser and just taking breaths in for about 5 minutes is a great way to use frankincense along with using it topically. All right, let's talk about one of my other favorite essential oils, and that's clary sage.

Now, clary sage is oftentimes used for hormones, and especially for women. If a woman has unbalanced estrogen levels, Right. Clary sage can help bring estrogen back into balance. It's oftentimes used for PMS, PCOS, other hormonal issues. It's a natural sedative as well, so it naturally sort of sedates the body, calms it.

This is one of my favorite essential oils to use at nighttime when you're trying to wind down and to prepare for a good night's sleep. Now, another great oil here is coriander. This really works by sort of soothing the digestive tract, so it can be used in that manner. Another great one here is ginger, similar thing. Ginger is great for reducing inflammation in the gut.

And there's a condition called leaky gut syndrome. And leaky gut syndrome is where you can actually have— imagine your gut lining is a net, you can get holes in it and undigested food particles like gluten can get through. But there's actually something called your gut-brain connection.

The reason why ginger oil is so beneficial is it reduces inflammation in your gut lining Which can then in turn, it kind of blocks a lot of these other molecules from getting through, then affecting the brain and causing this emotional reaction. So ginger oil really helps heal any sort of gut-brain issues if there's a problem there with leaky gut.

Now, holy basil, this is probably one of the top 5 essential oils that I use on a regular basis. Holy basil, also known as tulsi, was used extensively And Ayurvedic medicine. And in Ayurveda, this oil was used specifically as an adaptogen to help lower cortisol and bring those stress levels down. This is a great oil to use in a diffuser. It's great used with a carrier oil.

You can put it on topically. But this oil, again, so many of us live in this high-stress environment. Holy basil is an essential oil that pretty much all people can benefit from across the board. Again, one of the top 5 essential oils I personally use on a regular basis. All right, manuka oil. This is a really unique oil that comes out of New Zealand. Now, you may have heard of manuka honey.

Manuka honey contains compounds that have really powerful sort of antiseptic properties, so it keeps things from getting infected and really supports wound healing. But also the manuka honey comes from bees feeding off of the manuka flower. So there actually is an essential oil that comes from the Manuka flower, and when you smell it, you will be blown away.

It actually smells like a mixture, like somebody took flowers and honey and mixed them all together. It has a really unique scent and really unique flavor. So again, Manuka honey, this is also great for eczema, psoriasis, any sort of skin inflammation, but also just that scent of honey, it is very uplifting. I would call it sort of like a scent of joy. It just really creates happiness. Okay.

A very uplifted spirit, especially if you're having sort of anxiety with some depressive-like symptoms, can really help lift you up there, your mood. All right, cumin oil. Now, cumin oil is very good for nerve tissue, okay? Now, the other one that's good for nerve tissue is called helichrysum, but cumin and helichrysum are great for this. And my favorite cumin is to do black cumin.

It was known throughout history, it was actually called black seed oil. And actually Gandhi had a saying, he said, black seed can cure everything but death. Okay? Now, I don't know about that, but I will say that black seed does have tremendous benefits. It's a very bitter herb, so it can dry up dampness, actually help combat things like Candida, but also very good for nerve tissue.

And you can add 1 drop of it to your favorite dish there as well. You know, cumin goes well with things like, you know, it's good in hummus and... Chicken dishes, things like that, it's good to add there as well. Orange oil, I mentioned this earlier, these citrus oils like bergamot and orange and lemon and lime, very, very uplifting. So these oils are great to use for that reason.

Spikenard is actually a relative of lavender oil and spikenard is very, very calming. It sort of soothes the body and the mind there as well, natural sedative properties. Turmeric oil, this is the oil that has probably the most anti-inflammatory properties or probably turmeric Turmeric and ginger, probably the top 2 for reducing inflammation.

So again, if your issue you think might be related to inflammation, if not only do you have anxiety, but you also notice you have some joint discomfort, you just have some inflammatory symptoms, turmeric could be a good option. Doing about 3 to 5 drops daily in a meal can be great or some form of a beverage.

And one of the last but definitely not the least here, lavender oil, the number one prescribed essential oil today. For anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. Lavender oil is the number one selling oil in North America today. Calming properties, has really, really unique compounds in linalool acetate and linalool.

So again, it's great for migraines, anxiety, clinical depression, gives you the feelings of peace and relaxation. There's a medical study showing taking 80 milligrams a day internally In capsules alleviated insomnia, anxiety, and depression. 80 Milligrams would be the equivalent of 3 to 4 drops, okay, but probably 3 drops, okay, would be the equivalent.

3 Drops of an oil would equal 80 milligrams of lavender essential oil there as well. So here's a bath. This is something I've actually prescribed to my patients over the years and seen phenomenal results with them. What I had them do is I had them take a bath where they did 3 cups of Epsom salts in a bath. Now, Epsom salts contain magnesium, which is known as the relaxation mineral.

Lavender oil is often referred to as the relaxation essential oil. But mixing those together, Epsom salts, baking soda, and then some lavender essential oil, just allowing that to sort of fill really a hot to warm bath, soaking in it for about 20 to 30 minutes.

If you do that multiple times a week, let's say every other night or Even every night would be great, but every other night would be fantastic as well. You do that, you will notice you're going to sleep better. You're going to notice those nerves will start being calmed, anxiety reduced. So this is a great natural therapy and remedy to use to naturally combat anxiety and panic attacks.

And last few tips here: remember, diet is important. If you're a person doing a lot of sugar, sugar causes these spikes in insulin, which can increase your likelihood of panic attack. Foods that you may have sensitivity to too much. Dairy products or too much refined grains or hydrogenated oils. You know, stop consuming the fast food and especially the sugar and refined grains.

And in addition to that, some supplements that can help. Magnesium is very, very calming to the body, can help the body, as well as omega-3 fatty acids can greatly benefit reducing anxiety levels as well. And hey, if you are not subscribed here to my YouTube channel, make sure you subscribe. I've got a lot more videos coming out. On how to use food as medicine and a lot more about essential oils.

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