Boost Your Immune System Part 2: Stress, Lack of Sleep, & Toxicity

Welcome back to this three-part series on Immunity!  I want to do everything possible to make you both knowledgeable about how to utilize essential oils to boost your immune system, but also give you the tools to reclaim your own health and wellness.  In addition to poor nutrition and lack of exercise, there are several other factors that can compromise your immune system.  If you reclaim control of these areas of your life, you will greatly increase your body’s ability to ward of these immune detractors.  Getting a good night’s sleep, reducing the amount of stress in your life, and reducing the amount of toxins in your body and life will only free up the effort that your body may be currently putting into keeping these systems in check.  dōTERRA gives you a variety of essential oils and blends that will enable your body to rebalance and recalibrate itself so that it can properly protect your immune system.

STRESS

THE BASICS

Everyone knows that too much stress does not do a body good. While some stress motivates your mind and body to accomplish a task or a goal, repeated exposure whittles away at the positivity and becomes a chronic problem. Stress can start to chip away at your body’s systems, causing them to weaken one by one until you have some major health issues. Trust me…I know. Stress attacked my body until I had completely lost control of who I was and what I was trying to accomplish. Luckily, I was able to reclaim my life and am excited to help you to boost your health and wellness knowing what I now know about lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise, and essential oils. The first step in combatting stress is being sure that you have control over your nutrition and exercise, as well as ensuring you are getting a good night’s sleep and finding time to relax. In addition, you need to know your body’s triggers and if you feel yourself start to get headaches, or if your digestive system starts to get wacky, you know that you need to take a step back and employ some strategies to calm your body and mind.

THE NEXT STEP

Finding a calm in the storm can be easier said than done. In fact, knowing that you need to relax and find some time to pray or meditate is half the battle, but enabling your body to find the peace that it needs is sometimes an even bigger battle. dōTERRA essential oils can help your body find that calm. One of the most popular essential oils is Lavender for its amazing ability to calm the mind and body almost immediately. From cranky babies to tense adults, a little bit of Lavender either applied topically or diffused can go a long way. There has even been research done recently that taking Lavender internally may support your immune system1. The calming esters in Lavender help your mind to relax and your body to find the peace that it lost along the way. Other essential oils known for reducing tension and returning calm are Roman Chamomile, Ylang Ylang, and Clary Sage.

dōTERRA also offers amazing blends that can help you find the calm in the storm. Serenity®, Calming Blend utilizes Lavender and other essential oils to ease your body out of tension and into a peaceful state of mind. Balance®, Grounding Blend helps you to pull your mind and body out of the whirlwind and plant it back on the ground. Especially helpful during yoga, meditation, or prayer, both blends are prized in the dōTERRA community for their amazing effects on the mind and body. For an extra added bonus, try layering Serenity and Balance for those extra crazy moments in life. This is just one more step in reclaiming control over your well-being so that your body can focus on keeping you support and your immune system secure.

SLEEP

THE BASICS

Everyone knows we need sleep. It is a no-brainer. And we all know that sleep deprivation can be extremely damaging to the mind and body…so much so that it is used as a kind of torture. And if the body is not performing at optimum conditions, your immune system is at risk. While some of us cannot help our lack of sleep because of the season of life that we are in (think newborn babies), many of us are contributing to the factor that are keeping our bodies from recouping and recharging fully at night. Just like your smartphones must be plugged in for a complete charge, we need to plug into some healthy sleep for our bodies to completely recharge. While the amount of sleep necessary per person varies, the factors that can keep us from restful sleep do not – poor nutrition, lack of exercise, stress, prolonged use of technology, and even old mattresses and pillows. Luckily, essential oils can help us to find that calm that will enable us to get a restful night’s sleep and keep your immune system performing at its highest level.

THE NEXT STEP

Restful sleep is not just achieved magically, but requires a balancing of several contributing factors. Once you get your nutrition in order and stop counteracting your ability to relax with excess caffeine, nicotine, and/or alcohol, you can begin to address the problem of enabling yourself to fall asleep. Some simple tricks for regulating your body’s sleep acumen are establishing a steady bedtime and wake-up time, keeping your room at a cooler temperature at night, and blocking out all sources of light. After that, you may need to adjust your diet, cut back on the stimulants, and allow your body to unwind. This is where the calming and relaxing power of dōTERRA CPTG® essential oils can really make a difference.

I recommend starting with single essential oils and then moving to blends if those are ineffective. Most people begin with Lavender or Bergamot due to their high linalool and linalyl acetate content, whether applied topically, diffused, taken internally, or a combination of all three. In addition to diffusing, I recommend applying the oils to their pulse points (wrists, ankles, behind the ears, and over the heart), and it always helps me to a few drops of oil in a non-caffeinated, calming tea (think Chamomile or Earl Grey) about 30 minutes before bedtime. Other essential oils great for helping your body to relax and have the added bonus of potential immune-system support are Ylang Ylang, Roman Chamomile, and, a favorite for intense relaxation, Vetiver.

Let your body tell you which of the single oils help to support your body the most. Usually, the oils that smell the best to you are the ones that you may need the most, so let your nose be your guide. If the single oils aren’t providing relief, try moving on to one of doTERRA’s amazing oil blends mentioned above for stress – Serenity® Calming Blend and Balance® Grounding Blend. Another amazing addition to dōTERRA’s blends is Peace® Reassuring Blend which, when diffused at nighttime, helps the body to find the calm that it needs for sleep – especially since Vetiver, Ylang Ylang, and Lavender are a part of its amazing synergistic blend of essential oils.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me to discuss them!  I would be happy to help you in taking the next step to reclaiming your health and wellness.

TOXICITY

THE BASICS

Nearly everything we come in contact with these days contains unhealthy amounts of toxins and free radicals that make their way into our bodies. While it is true that anything in excess could become toxic for our bodies, we are specifically talking about the chemicals, metals, and other unwanted substances that wreak havoc on our internal systems, causing unwanted side effects. Those side effects then start to compromise our body’s systems, redirecting attention from our healthy immune system to supporting other areas. Luckily, with the help of some essential oils, we can rebalance and purify our bodies to bring us back to a baseline of wellness from which we can begin to really strengthen our immune system, and our bodies and minds overall.

THE NEXT STEP

The simplest thing you can do to help your body is to drink water with citrus oils in it. Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit, and Wild Orange essential oils added to your daily water regimen not only provide cleansing benefits, but they also up the taste quotient enormously. You can also take citrus oils internally in a veggie cap to help provide cleansing benefits.

Another dōTERRA specialty is Zendocrine® Detoxification Blend that is yet another specially-formulated blend meant to help us reclaim our health. Its purpose is to help support the body’s natural processes to remove the toxins and free radicals that may be causing internal and external problems. It also specifically supports the liver, which plays a large role in our immune system. Zendocrine can be diffused, applied topically as a foot massage, or added to your normal tea, water, or citrus drinks, and dōTERRA also offers an easy-to-use softgel if you prefer.

If you are really looking for a cleanse to support digestion, dōTERRA also has a program used to support your gastrointestinal (GI) tract. GX Assist® & PB Assist+® specifically target your digestive system to first eliminate negative bacteria and then repopulate your system with six different strains of healthy bacteria. It helps to purify and cleanse your system, and may improve your internal microbial balance. It can be used as an annual cleanse or it could potentially be used monthly until your system improves.

Whatever the combination or method of delivery, it is up to each individual person to discover what works best for him or her. This is where you can’t give up…by helping yourself find stress-relief, a restful night’s sleep, and warding off toxins and free radicals, you will be doing your body – and your immune system – a heavy dose of good! If you would like more advice or need additional support, I have a new book coming out on all the amazing ways to use essential oils for you and your family.