7 Health Benefits of Lavender

Whether you’re the type to buy all-natural, organic everything or you just like things that smell nice, everybody can agree that there’s something special about lavender. That’s why you’ll spot it everywhere: in perfumes, lotions, oils, soaps, and even stuffed animals.
  
Lavender is more than just a beautiful herb with an enticing fragrance, it also has a multitude of health benefits impacting everything from reducing your anxiety to improving your skin and hair. Here are just some of the health benefits of lavender.
 

1. Improves Sleep

One of the most popular uses of this powerful herb is using lavender to help with sleep. Studies have shown that using lavender in aromatherapy can help improve sleep quality, even for those with insomnia. If you or your child have trouble sleeping, going to bed with a stuffed animal scented with dried lavender can help you get a better night’s rest.

2. Relieves Anxiety, Stress, and Depression

Perhaps one of the reasons that lavender is so good at helping people get better rest is that it has proven anxiolytic properties. That means that it can relieve feelings of stress and anxiety. By lowering your heart rate and blood pressure, lavender can make you feel calmer and less stressed. Studies have shown it can be effective at treating depression, too. 

3. Eases Menstrual Symptoms

A heated pad placed over your abdomen is known to make many women’s cramps feel better, but if that pad is also scented with lavender, it’ll pack a double punch. After all, studies have shown that lavender can help relieve menstrual pain.

4. Calms the Nervous System

Like we alluded to above, one of the most exciting benefits of lavender is its ability to calm your nervous system. Specifically, it can lower blood pressure and reduce heart rate. Not only does this make you feel more relaxed, but it can be incredibly useful for people with health problems such as high blood pressure.

5. Speeds Healing

If you have a burn, cut, bee sting, or bug bite, lavender can be a natural way to relieve some of that irritation and speed up healing. It does so by stimulating your cells to regenerate.

6. Relieves Nausea

One of the many dried lavender uses is the ability to relieve nausea or motion sickness. If you’re heading out for a boat ride sometime soon and know that you tend to get seasick, bringing a lavender neck wrap can provide you with some major relief.

7. Relieves Pain

Nausea, menstrual cramps, and bug bites aren’t the only types of discomfort lavender can help with. It’s actually known to be a natural antibiotic and effective pain reliever for many different types of pain including headaches, migraines, toothaches, childbirth, ear infection, surgeries, canker sores & more.
 
If you want to experience the transformative power of lavender’s natural healing and calming properties, it's a great idea to keep a lavender-scented product or two around your home for whenever you might need them.