Do you want to reduce Anxiety, Stress and depression while also improving the health of your home? Sounds too good to be true right?
The good news is that one uncommon essential oil has this power.
Although Lavender, Sandalwood and Amber are commonly used to sooth anxiety they are not the focus of this article.
We’re going to highlight a lesser known oil, one proven by Japanese and American scientists to have clear and effective Stress, Anxiety and Depression reducing effects as well as physical health benefits.
Essential oils, have been used as natural treatments for thousands of year. But the nature of their health benefits have been personal and hard to prove, until now.
While some oils show no change in health effect beyond the pleasant smell, others are attracting a lot of scientific interest for measurable improvements in health.
Hiba oil in particular has shown significant improvements in the treatment of stress, depression, anxiety and general environmental health.
Photo credit – Eric Hunt
Hiba oil has been used in Japan for centuries as a Sacred scent. It’s extracted from the Asunaro or Hiba tree – Thujopsis dolabrata (SF Botanical description).
A type of Cypress tree Indigenous to Japan – the Hiba tree has uses far beyond health including being used as Architectural wood. This study examined the building of Buddhist and Shinto temples where Hiba was commonly used as it contains natural pesticides and anti-bacterial compounds.
This improves the lifespan of buildings, a lot of which still stand today including the The Konjiki-dō or ‘Golden Hall’ in the Iwate prefecture which is roughly 890 years old, and a UNESCO world heritage site.
Golden hall – Fujiwara – photo credit – Japan times.
The worlds healthiest bath
The wood was also used for Japanese Hinoki hot tubs, known for their therapeutic and life rejuvenating benefits. More recently studies have found the deeper reason for this health benefit.
Photo credit – http://shimizumokuzai.jp/en/wamodern
Hiba oil is a hard to extract but naturally occurring oil which is rich in a substance called Hinokitiol. It’s been shown in numerous studies listed below to have vast physical, mental and environmental health benefits.
This makes HIBA oil the perfect cleansing oil for home, body and mind!
HIBA proven to reduce Anxiety, Stress AND Depression.
Japanese scientists studied the benefits of using HIBA aromatherapy oil among a group of patients who had frequent and stressful medical treatments. They used control scents during the study to improve the reliability of results increasing the validity of the study.
Anxiety and Depression tests were taken both before and after exposure to HIBA oil and the control oils.
The results showed that to HIBA oil, when vaporized, clearly reduced levels of Anxiety and Depression when compared to the controls.
HIBA was also shown to be more effective than Lavender which only showed anxiety reducing benefits but was ineffective when treating depression.
Benefits also include household health.
Hiba was also shown to improve the health of your house by adding a natural anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial side effect of the vaporization, without having any negative consequences to your personal health.
This is exciting for reducing around the house dust mite allergies which are common in children, and mold or fungus issues.
The study compared 13 different pesticides and showed that HIBA oil killed Allergy inducing Dust mites while commercially used Permethrin killed only 10% of the same number. Not only is HIBA safer than commercial pesticides, it is also more effective.
Getting the best effects from HIBA oil.
Scientists found that using oil diffusers, vaporizers or sprays achieved the best results. Oil Diffusers are easy to use around the house as they’re small, portable and safer than candles for releasing the beneficial Hiba oils into the air.
If you don’t already have a diffuser, they’re a great investment – this one comes highly recommended.
Directions for use.
- Mix 5 drops of Hiba oil (aff) into 1 tbsp of distilled water. Stir the mixture.
- Add the Hiba:water mixture into your aromatherapy diffusor.
- Put the diffusor in a common area of your house or at your desk in work.
- Relax and create your own personal Zen space while you let the calming Hiba scent improve your mental and physical wellbeing.
In summary, using Hiba oil has been shown to significantly reduce all aspects of Stress, Anxiety and Depression but can also be a very effective household cleanser, keeping your home free from nasty allergenic mites and molds.
Although Hiba oil is not very common, it’s starting to become more popular due to the above research.
Have you used HIBA or any other solution? If so, Let us know what works for you.
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