Nobody likes to think about the next day’s hangover when they start drinking. However, that’s typically the reality following a wild and fun night. Depending on your plans for the day, you may need to find hangover relief fast.
Essential oils can offer a natural remedy that can help you recover from hangover symptoms when you need it most.
What Causes A Hangover?
The simple answer to this question is to say that drinking too much alcohol causes a hangover. However, you might wonder why that happens. While drinking alcohol has obvious effects on your body that many people enjoy, like the feeling of getting “buzzed” or drunk. However, the way alcohol interacts with your system to provide this feeling will eventually wear off, and you might be left with symptoms of a hangover.
One of the most notable causes of hangovers is the dehydrating effect of alcohol. Alcohol is categorized as a diuretic, which essentially means that it causes you to lose fluids and urinate more frequently. When you drink alcohol without drinking water to hydrate, you can quickly become dehydrated. So, after a long night of drinking, you might wake up with symptoms such as a headache, dizziness, and nausea.
Dehydration is responsible for most of the well-known hangover symptoms, but other forces act to contribute to hangovers. For example, alcohol can lead to an imbalance of electrolytes, which are essential minerals that help your body function properly. When alcohol affects your electrolyte levels, it can leave you feeling sluggish and irritable.
How Can Essential Oils Help Hangovers?
Essential oils have plenty of beneficial effects on your health and wellness that may present a possible hangover cure, too. One of the least desirable symptoms of a hangover is nausea. It’s a bit of a stereotype to associate drinking too much with someone who is sick or possibly vomiting.
This can happen when you drink alcohol excessively to the point where it increases the production of stomach acid in your body. That being said, if you have one too many drinks, you may feel nauseous the following day– but essential oils can help.
There are multiple essential oils that contain properties that work to improve your digestion, relax your body, and even fight off bacterias. All of these properties can provide a helpful solution for nausea relief. In fact, many women who experience nausea as a symptom of pregnancy will use essential oils as a natural remedy.
As for the other symptoms of hangovers, one of the most notable is headaches. This is typically a result of dehydration, which means that drinking plenty of water can help you recover. However, sometimes the hangover headaches are too intense to wait for relief, which is where essential oils can help. Multiple essential oils can help relieve headaches, some with effective relief in just minutes.
We recommend staying hydrated while recovering from your night of drinking, but your symptoms can improve with the use of essential oils too. Essential oils can trigger responses from your nervous system that can provide physical and mental wellness benefits.
Aside from headaches and nausea, your hangover may have you feeling sluggish, tired, anxious, or even slightly depressed. Luckily, there are also essential oils that can interact with your body to signal responses that may improve your mood and mental well-being.
5 Essential Oils That Can Help Cure Your Hangover
Your hangover needs may depend on the severity of your symptoms and your goals for the day. So, we put together a list of the five best essential oils to help eliminate your hangover symptoms.
With the help of these essential oils and the power of rehydrating– you can overcome your hangover naturally.
1. Ginger Oil To Combat Nausea
If your hangover includes those uncomfortable, nauseous feelings, odds are you are looking for fast relief. We recommend using ginger essential oil through aromatherapy or even topical application on your stomach/pressure points to calm your nausea.
Studies have shown that inhaling essential oils such as ginger oil can reduce the intensity of your nausea and prevent increased symptoms due to motion sickness. Another study notes that ginger oil aromatherapy effectively reduced nausea and vomiting for patients recovering from abdominal surgeries. This may not be the same as a hangover, but the results are still promising.
2. Peppermint Oil To Heal Headaches
Peppermint oil is often used for aromatherapy to reduce intense headaches, including tension headaches and migraines. It’s hard to prevent a next-day headache after a night of drinking, but peppermint oil may help ease the pain.
In 2015, a study explored the effects of peppermint oil aromatherapy. Among the results, the research showed that the soothing, cool aroma of peppermint oil could efficiently heal headaches.
3. Rosemary Oil To Help Refocus
It’s not always easy to focus when you’re hungover, which is why most people save their heavy drinking for the weekends. However, if you happen to overindulge in alcohol the night before a busy day, you may find it hard to focus and stay alert during your hangover.
Luckily, studies show that rosemary essential oil has stimulatory benefits that can help boost your focus and cognitive function.
4. Lavender Oil To Reduce Anxiety
You may have heard of the term “hangxiety” which refers to the anxious feeling some hangovers provide. This anxiety can manifest in different ways, including shakiness or increased blood pressure & heart rate.
Research shows promising benefits when using lavender oil to reduce anxiety, and a more recent study showed that inhaling lavender oil can also lower blood pressure and heart rate.
5. Lemon Oil To Re-Energize
Hangovers are likely to leave you feeling sluggish and unmotivated. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to fight your hangover fatigue so you can get up and accomplish your responsibilities for the day.
That being said, citrus oils such as lemon essential oil have been found to help provide an energizing boost. This study showed that lemon essential oil aromatherapy can help improve cognitive performance and help you feel energized.
The next time you are getting ready for a big night that involves heavy alcohol consumption, try to prepare yourself for the hangover.
Essential oils aren’t a certified hangover cure, but in addition to drinking water, they can reduce your symptoms and make them much more manageable.