It seems cold and flu season has arrived, at least where I live in central Ohio.  For me, that means it’s time to be proactive in protecting myself and my home from whatever nasty bug that my friends are passing around.  One of the ways I do this is by diffusing therapeutic-grade essential oils.

Diffusing essential oils provides three primary benefits:

First, the oils directly eliminate microbes in the air, thus reducing the concentration of live pathogens you may be inhaling or touching at any time and reducing the load on your immune system.

Second, most essential oils, and particularly the strong anti-microbial ones, are emotionally uplifting and increase mental clarity and focus. Your space will smell nicer, and generally will be more pleasant to be in.

Third, in many cases, essential oils will actually fortify your own immune system to prevent you from getting sick in the first place – some studies have shown that essential oils actually increase cellular resistance to invading bacteria and viruses.  Many single oils can be used for this – lemon, rosemary, lavender are excellent all-around choices, as is eucalyptus radiata, orange and cinnamon.

My favorite blend to diffuse this time of year is Thieves.  Not only does it smell great with lemon, cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus and rosemary, it provides serious protection against airborne bacteria.  In fact, testing done at Weber State University showed that Thieves essential oil blend had a 99.96% kill rate against airborne bacteria after being diffused for only 12 minutes!

There are many things we can do to protect ourselves from catching the flu…diffusing essential oils is one of the easiest!