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Clary sage may be similar to “plain old sage” but is also very different! Clary sage essential oil has many beneficial properties which have been used in the practice of aromatherapy for millennia! This popular essential oil is found in the personal aromatherapy diffusers Vibrant, Happy, Zen or Love MONQ. In this article, we will be discussing its benefits, uses, and potential side effects. But first, some history!
This essential oil is a much better option as a deodorant because when it’s diluted, it’s an effective deodorant that does not produce negative side effects. Side effects are lowered because it is plant-based. As an added bonus, it doesn’t negatively impact the environment.
Clary sage essential strengthens your gums and helps tone your muscles, skin, and hair follicles to prevent hair loss. It works as an antioxidant to tighten the skin that may be sagging due to free radicals working inside of the body and causing damage.
Clary sage essential oil effectively reduces blood pressure through relaxing the arteries and veins, which works to reduce the risk of brain hemorrhage, atherosclerosis, stroke, and heart attack.
This essential oil contains an ester called linalyl acetate that helps to heal rashes and reduce skin inflammation. It also helps to regulate and balance the production of the natural oils inside the skin, regulates both dry and oily skin, and makes skin look beautiful and young.
This essential oil works to calm and soothe your nerves. It is a sedative and calms the central nervous system as well as other disorders, including hysteria, anxiety, vertigo, and nervousness. One way to use clary sage essential oil is in MONQ’s Happy personal essential oil diffuser.
Traditionally this essential oil has been used to treat certain respiratory tract infections like pneumonia and bronchitis. When the vapors of the essential oil are inhaled it works to open up sinuses, airways and reduces congestion. Asthma suffers find the oil to be very beneficial since it works to relax their bronchial tubes.
The oil works to regulate our stomach’s digestive fluid secretion. This prevents stomach disorders and assists with stimulating efficient nutrient absorption, regulating bowel movements, and digesting food. It also works to heal ulcers.
History Of Clary Sage
The scientific name for this herb is Salvia sclarea and it is a perennial plant that is part of the Salvia genus. Its name comes from “Clarus,” which is the Latin word for “clear.” This perennial herb is indigenous to the northern Mediterranean region, along with some parts of Central Asia and North Africa.1
The plant grows up to 3 to 6 feet tall, and features square thick stems covered in hair. It also has colorful flowers, which range from mauve to lilac and bloom in bunches. The essential oil is extracted from the plant’s leaves and flowering tops via a steam distillation process.
The use of the herb dates to Greek and Roman times. It was used for certain eye conditions to help clear out motes as well as red and white spots. Mucilage from the seed was mixed with water and then applied to swellings and tumors. It was also used to draw out thorns, splinters, and other debris from the skin. The essential oil includes soothing and relaxing properties that have been used since at least the Middle Ages to rejuvenate and calm the skin and is still used for this purpose today. It has also long been known to support and regulate the female reproductive system such as during menstruation, childbirth and, menopause. Throughout history, it has also been considered to be an aphrodisiac and used as an ingredient in brewing ales and added to wine to make it more intoxicating.2
Benefits of Clary Sage
Clary sage essential oil offers numerous benefits. These benefits can be attributed to the oil’s anti-inflammatory, astringent, antispasmodic, antiseptic, anti-infectious, antifungal, antidepressant, and anticonvulsant properties. The oil is also a sedative and nerve tonic with warming and soothing components.3
The two major components of the oil responsible for its sedative and relaxing qualities are the terpenes linalyl acetate and linalool. These are also found in the popular sedative herb, lavender. Other noteworthy terpenes in clary sage include geraniol, germacrene-D, neryl acetate, caryophyllene, alpha-terpineol, sclareol.
The following are some of the most important benefits provided by this essential oil.
Fights Depression
This oil can help to boost mental strength, hope, confidence, and self-esteem, which results in depression being combated efficiently. It can be very helpful for the most common ways we might feel depressed, like after the death of a loved one or friend, stagnation periods of our life, loneliness, insecurity or failures in one’s relationships or career. The oil also helps to relieve anxiety. It has been utilized as an antidepressant and administered to patients who are undergoing rehabilitation for acute depression.4
Reduces Convulsions
Clary sage essential oil helps to reduce and calm down convulsions, whether epileptic or from some other type of mental condition or nervous disorder. The oil acts as an effective sedative to soothe the nerves and bring peace of mind.
Relieves Spasms
The essential oil can be useful in treating spasms along with other related ailments, including spasmodic cholera, headaches, stomach aches, spasmodic cough, and muscle cramps. It helps to relax nerve impulses, therefore, controlling spasms.
Antibacterial
The oil kills fungi and bacteria, stops the growth of bacterial infections, and prevents the development of new infections. It has been shown in studies that the essential oil is especially beneficial in helping to cure bacterial infections that affect the excretory system, urinary tract, intestines, and colon. It is also very effective in helping to inhibit bacteria from getting into our bodies through food or water.
Prevents Infections
When clary sage is topically applied to wounds they get an extra layer of protection from tetanus germs or becoming septic. The antiseptic qualities of the oil can help to protect one’s body while recovering from surgery and as well as all kind of wounds which tend to be where infections arise.5
Boosts Libido
This is a very well-known property of the oil. It is known as an effective aphrodisiac, which helps to facilitate sexual desire and boost the libido. It is very effective in helping to treat psychological issues that result in impotence, loss of libido, and in treating frigidity. Clary sage has been shown in studies that it is equally effective in treating both women and men. It increases testosterone levels and affects hormones that can increase the desire for sexual activities and also increase performance.
Antioxidant
If you believe that your gums might be weakening in their ability to hold your teeth in place speak to a doctor to prevent tooth loss. However, applying oral products containing clary sage oil can also be a good idea since it has effective astringent properties. It not only strengthens your gums but also helps tone your muscles, skin, and hair follicles to prevent hair loss. It works as an antioxidant to tighten the skin that may be sagging due to free radicals working inside of the body and causing damage.
Healthy Skin
This essential oil contains an ester called linalyl acetate that helps to heal rashes and reduce skin inflammation. It also helps to regulate and balance the production of the natural oils inside the skin, regulates both dry and oily skin, and makes skin look beautiful and young. It can be mixed along with a carrier agent such as almond oil in order to facilitate maximum beneficial effects and absorption.
Reduces Flatulence
The oil has carminative properties that help to eliminate gas very quickly. It creates an environment conducive to allowing one to pass excess gas, which reduces the feeling of being bloated. In severe cases, gas can potentially be fatal if it pushes up and reaches the sensitive organs that are inside of the chest cavity. That is why using downward movement for expelling them is the safest. The oil also works to inhibit the formation of gas, to begin with.
Regulates Menstruation
The essential oil can help with painful, obstructed, or irregular menses. It doesn’t have any adverse side effects associated with this. The oil works to simulate menses, allowing them to be regular and ease pain associated with them. It soothes mental irritation and may prevent dizziness in postmenopausal women. It may help to reduce the negative effects and symptoms that are associated with menstruation such as food cravings, mood swings, bloating, cramping, and balancing out hormones that have a tendency to be overwhelming for many women during this time.6
Lowers Blood Pressure
Clary sage essential oil effectively reduces blood pressure through relaxing the arteries and veins7, which works to reduce the risk of brain hemorrhage, atherosclerosis, stroke, and heart attack. Reducing blood pressure works by widening one’s blood vessels. This results in increased circulation which then increases oxygen to the organs and muscles, giving your overall metabolic performance a boost.
Soothes the Nerves
This essential oil works to calm and soothe your nerves. It is a sedative and calms the central nervous system as well as other disorders, including hysteria, anxiety, vertigo, and nervousness.
Lowers Anxiety
If you need to concentrate, calm down or would just like to be able to relax and sleep restfully through the night, then clary sage can help. Individuals who suffer from anxiety disorders and chronic stress find this essential oil to be very comforting and effective.
Reduces Stomach Disorders
The oil works to regulate our stomach’s digestive fluid secretion. This prevents stomach disorders and assists with stimulating efficient nutrient absorption, regulating bowel movements, and digesting food. It also works to heal ulcers.
Eliminates Bad Odor
Purchasing synthetic deodorants impacts the environment negatively and they are expensive. The pleasant smell does not last for long. They also sometimes cause allergies and skin irritation. This essential oil is a much better option as a deodorant because when it’s diluted, it’s an effective deodorant that does not produce negative side effects. Side effects are lowered because it is plant-based. As an added bonus, it doesn’t negatively impact the environment.
Relieves Respiratory and Asthma Problems
Traditionally this essential oil has been used to treat certain respiratory tract infections like pneumonia and bronchitis. When the vapors of the essential oil are inhaled through a vaporizer or room diffuser, it works to open up sinuses and airways and reduces congestion. Asthma suffers find the oil to be very beneficial since it works to relax their bronchial tubes.
Ways To Use Clary Sage Essential Oil
There are several different ways that this essential oil can be used. Try an inexpensive essential oil burner, a candle with clary sage as one of the main ingredients, or buy the pure essential oil and add it to a room diffuser. Positive effects can be found from aromatic or topical use on affected parts of the body.
Inhalation
A few drops of clary sage oil can be added to water and diffused in an essential oil room diffuser. When vaporized it can help to provide stress relief, improve mood and fight germs and bacteria in the air. Or, simply place a drop on a handkerchief and smell it throughout the day.
Skin
Several drops of the essential oil can be mixed with coconut oil or another carrier oil and then directly applied to a wound or massaged directly into the skin to provide relief from swelling and inflammation. Several drops of the oil can be added to bathwater to improve mood and soothe sore muscles and joints. When applied directly to an injured part of the body, it has immediate anesthetic, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic effects.
Hair health
Mix together equal parts of rosemary and clary sage into aloe vera gel and massage into your scalp during your shower.
Ease Digestion
Mix a few drops of the essential oil with 4 tablespoons of a carrier oil and then massage the abdomen with the mixture.
Cosmetic
Many cosmetic products contain this essential oil. Due to its antiseptic properties and pleasant aroma, it is an ingredient found in many face washes, shampoos, herbal soaps, deodorants, and other hygiene products.
Food manufacturing: the oil is used as a preservative and flavoring agent.
Final Thoughts
Clary sage can be combined with other essential oils and diluted with a carrier oil to make beneficial combinations. Some of the other oils that it blends well with include chamomile, lavender, sandalwood, vetiver, rose, geranium, frankincense, jasmine, juniper, pine and citrus fruit essential oils such as orange, lime, and lemon. If you’re new to using essential oils, check out MONQ’s personal diffusers, blended and specified to certain benefits like Happy, Sleepy, and Zen.
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