Last Updated on November 27, 2019 by Marc Seward
What is Ravensara Essential Oil?
Many people like to keep several essential oils in their arsenal to help treat a wide array of health problems. Essential oils not only help address many physical issues, but their rich aromas work as aromatherapy, addressing many mental health issues as well.
Those of you that love natural remedies and essential oils may want to introduce a new oil to your line up of all-star healing oils: Ravensara. Despite its many healing properties, Ravensara oil is relatively unknown to the general population and does not get all the press it deserves.
A native to the island of Madagascar, this powerful essential oil is to Madagascar, what tea tree oil is to Australia: a cure-all. Ravensara oil is extracted via steam distillation of leaves from a tree called Ravensara aromatica. For centuries, locals used this essential oil as a medicinal tonic to fight infection.
Ravensara essential oil is considered a cure-all for good reason, it contains antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiseptic, anti-allergenic, analgesic, disinfectant, antispasmodic, expectorant, diuretic, and aphrodisiac properties.
Wow! This long list of properties indicates that not only does Ravensara essential oil provide a ton of health benefits, but the aroma provides many therapeutic benefits as well.
1) Shingles and Cold Sores
This antiviral essential oil is a great home remedy for treating shingles and cold sores. Despite its powerful antiviral ability, it does not further dry and irritate delicate skin. This natural remedy will not only cut down the healing time, but also brings welcomed pain relief as well.
To use Ravensara essential oil in the treatment of cold sores and shingles, mix drops of Ravensara essential oil with a few drops of tea tree oil with quite a bit of coconut oil. Coconut oil is the preferred base because it has its own brand of antiviral properties. Apply this mixture directly to the shingles lesions and cold sores.
2) Achy Muscles
If you have achy muscles due to illness or exercise, Ravensara essential oil will soothe any muscle pain. Rich in antispasmodic properties, this essential oil alleviates muscle spasms and cramps, as well as nervous tension responsible for seizing you muscles up.
Add about ten drops of Ravensara essential oil to your warm bath, lay back, and relax. This soothing bath is great before bedtime, helping your muscles relax and preparing your body for sleep. For a soothing, relieving massage, add a couple drops of Ravensara essential oil to a carrier oil and apply directly to the affected area.
3) Bacterial Infections
As mentioned before, this essential oil is loaded with antibacterial properties. This antibacterial agent kills the H. pylori bacteria found in our digestive tracts. When this harmful bacteria grown in abundance, it leads to all sort of nasty, unpleasant digestive problems. Ravensara essential oil is also believed to suppress the growth of MRSA infections.
4) Cold Remedy
Ravensara essential oil will help your immune system fight the cold virus with its antibacterial, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties. Once you start to feel a cold coming on, take a healing bath with a healing blend of Ravensara essential oil and other essential oils.
In a nice warm bath, blend a couple drops of Ravensara, tea tree oil, lavender essential oil, eucalyptus essential oil, and thyme essential oil. Inhaling this medicinal blend of oils will help kill the cold virus taking up residence in your body. You can also diffuse this blend in your home with an infuser.
5) Respiratory Problems
A known expectorant, Ravensara essential oil helps treat conditions that produce too much phlegm and mucus in the respiratory tract. Ravensara essential oil helps to loosen up this excess phlegm and get it out of the body ASAP. Its expectorant properties make it beneficial in the treatment of pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis, cold, flu, and cough.
The best way to rid your body of excess phlegm is to inhale Ravensara essential oil. Simply add a couple drops into your infuser. If you do not own an infuser, add a couple drops of Ravensara essential oil into a pot of boiling water and inhale the aroma emanating from the pot.
To make a soothing, expectorant chest rub, blend Ravensara essential oil, eucalyptus essential oil, and pine essential oil with a carrier oil. Rub directly on your chest in a circular motion to experience relief.
6) Pain Reliever
Ravensara essential oil is known to have pain analgesic qualities. This powerful essential oil can treat many types of pain, such as muscular and joint pain, headaches, earaches, and toothache.
7) Diuretic
Add diuretic to the job description or Ravensara essential oil. Many people turn to diuretic to remove toxic waste from their bodies via urination. Increasing the rate of urination removes excess water, salt, fat from your body as well as flushes out harmful toxins.
The inhibiting the buildup of these toxins, you protect your body from arthritis, gout, rheumatism, and acne. Diuretics also help prevent an accumulation of dangers levels of water and salt in the body, which may result in water retention in the body and hypertension. Keeping a health, consistent flow of urine is also beneficial to the digestive system, and as a result, your immune system.
8) Disinfectant
The antiviral, antibacterial, antiseptic, and antifungal properties of Ravensara essential oil make it a powerful disinfectant. This cleanly essential oil stops and inhibits the growth of dangerous germs, microorganisms, and protozoa.
Vaporize this essential oil in your house to prevent the spread of germs. Adding a couple drops of this essential oil to your infuser is especially beneficial during cold and flu season. Unlike commercial disinfectants on the market, Ravensara essential oil is 100% natural and doesn’t have the toxic side effects of chemical-based cleansers.
9) Antiviral
Ravensara essential oil kills stubborn viruses. Those that have a benign cyst will find that this powerful essential oil will help rupture the cyst and eliminate the virus inside. The antiviral property of this essential oil is also know to help fight such viruses as measles, mumps, influenza, chicken pox, and the cold virus.
10) Aromatherapy
Ravensara essential oil has an uplifting aroma the helps boost the spirits of those suffering from depression. If you’re feeling blue or just want to experience a bright, stress-relieving scent, add a couple drops to your infuser. Add a couple drops to your bath for an extra relaxing experience.
11) Toothache
While it may not be as well-known as some of the other essential oils such as clove and peppermint, for relieving toothache ravensara oil is recommended by many people because of its excellent pain relieving effects as well as its potent antibacterial properties. If you are suffering from toothache or painful gums, then you might well consider using ravensara essential oil either alone or in combination with clove oil to treat your pain.
There are several ways that you can use this oil to treat your toothache. You can simply apply a drop or two directly to the affected area of your mouth or you can add a few drops to a glass of water and gargle with it several times each day.
If you are going to gargle the mixture, please make sure that you don’t actually swallow any of the oil. With any luck you will start to notice the difference in no time at all.
12) Allergies
There is some evidence that when used in combination with other essential oils that Ravensara oil may help reduce the symptoms of allergic rhinitis including congestion and drainage of the nasal passage.
Recent research published in 2012 discovered that a nasal spray made with a combination of Ravensara, lemon and niaouli essential oil was effective in decreasing some of the common symptoms of hay fever. (1)
Blending Ravensara with other Oils
The aroma of Ravensara essential oil is similar to the aroma of eucalyptus essential oil. Ravensara essential oil is great to use on its own or blends well with other essential oils for an extra healing infusion.
Consider blending Ravensara essential oil with clove, black pepper, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, lavender, and rosemary essential oils. If you want to help naturally boost your immune system, blend Ravensara essential oil with oregano, frankincense, and cinnamon essential oils.
How to use Ravensara Essential Oil
Like most other essential oils, there are various effective ways to use Ravensara oil depending on the condition that you are trying to treat.
- Inhalation: you can simply inhale your Ravensara essential oil from the bottle or from a handkerchief to help you with your general mood or to relieve allergic symptoms or congestion. For more serious respiratory conditions, it is more effective to make a steam inhalation by adding a few drops of Ravensara oil to a hot sink or bowl of water.Cover your upper body with a towel then inhale its rich vapors for 5 minutes or so and you will quickly notice the way it opens up your airways helping you to breathe with more freedom. Try combining ravensara with peppermint essential oil for even greater effect.
- Massage: To make a soothing massage oil, combine your Ravensara oil with a suitable quantity of a carrier oil like sweet almond or jojoba oil and massage it into the affected areas. This is a great way to deal with aching muscles and swollen joints.
- Mouthwash: combine a few drops of Ravensara essential oil with an equal amount of peppermint oil and a glass of water to make a cleansing antibacterial mouthwash. Gargle with it each evening but be careful not to ingest any.
- Oil Bath: Add a few drops of Ravensara to your bathtub to wash away the aches and pains of your day. Make sure that you don’t add your oil until you have finished running the water or you will lose much of the oil’s benefit to evaporation.
Ravensara Oil Side Effects
- Pregnant or nursing women should not use Ravensara essential oil.
- Always consult a physician before using any essential oil as a treatment to ensure that it does not interact with any medication or complicate other existing illnesses.
- Before using Ravensara essential oil, be sure to do an allergy skin patch test to make sure that you are not allergic to the essential oil.
- When buying Ravensara essential oil, make sure you buy therapeutic grade 100% organic oil. Essential oils sold at a discount price are often diluted with synthetics, cheaper similar smelling oils, fillers and may contain contaminants.
- Do not ingest Ravensara essential oil.
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