Beat The Cold or Flu Bug With These 11 Essential Oils

Coughing is a way of cleansing your respiratory system of micro-organisms and toxins. Though coughing is irritating, as long as it is a wet or productive cough, because it helps to clear chest congestion and gets rid of those foreign invaders.

Two powerful remedies for cold and flu happen to be great at helping to treat cough. Both also happen to originate from the Australian continent.

A common ingredient included in a wide variety of cough syrups is eucalyptus oil. Eucalyptus oil works as an expectorant in order to make your cough more productive when it comes to expelling the virus causing your illness. 

Eucalyptus helps to dilate blood vessels, which allows more oxygen to flow into your lungs, relieving the shortness of breath and congestion you feel when you have a cold or the flu.

Eucalyptus oil also includes a compound called cineole, which has powerful antimicrobial effects to help kill any foreign invaders in your respiratory system.

Common use: vaporizer, diffuser, topical, compress, consumption

Additional symptoms treated: relieves fatigue, great sleep aid, works on muscle aches and pains

Northern Australian natives have utilized tea tree or melaleuca oil for centuries in the treatment of coughs, colds and flu.

Just like its cousin, eucalyptus, tea tree oil works as an expectorant while also helping relieve congestion through increased blood circulation. 

Tea tree oil also has powerful antimicrobial, antiviral and antiseptic properties, which make it a powerful remedy when it comes to eliminating the flu bug which has taken up residence in your respiratory system.

Common use: vaporizer, diffuser, topical

Additional symptoms treated: relieves fatigue, sore throats, disinfectant to prevent spreading

The burning and irritation in your throat is typically due to the combination of dryness and inflammation in the lymph glands.

The dryness is a result of post nasal mucus buildup in your throat along with coughing. The inflammation of the lymph nodes is related to your body’s immune system working overtime to fight off the foreign invaders.

Lemon oil works well when it comes to increasing salivation to keep the throat moist. It also contains properties that help to stimulate lymph drainage and reduce lymph gland inflammation. 

Along with those properties, lemon oil is antiseptic and antibacterial to assist in eliminating foreign pathogens.

Common use: vaporizer, diffuser, gargling, compress, consumption

Additional symptoms treated: relieves fatigue, immunity booster, disinfectant to prevent spreading

Natural household cleaning products often make use of juniper berry oil because of its fragrant, sweet and woodsy aroma.

It is also utilized in the distillation of gin, but it is also a powerful remedy when it comes to the treatment of sore throats. It helps to reduce the urge to cough when you have a dry cough, reducing that form of irritation while having an antiseptic effect as well.

87 different active compounds make up the effective properties of juniper berries in fighting off a wide number of illnesses.

Common use: vaporizer, diffuser, topical, compress

Additional symptoms treated: relieves fatigue, disinfectant to prevent spreading, cough reduction, relieves aches and pains

The purpose of a fever is to help kill the virus by raising your body’s temperature a few degrees in an attempt to create a hostile environment for it's growth and spreading.

In addition, this added temperature increase encourages antibodies to move more quickly to the point of attack. You can keep your body’s temperature from spiking to dangerous levels.

Though most commonly used to relieve stress and promote relaxation, two properties of chamomile essential oil have an effect on fever.

It is a febrifuge, which means that it helps to reduce your body’s temperature. It is also a sudorific, which means that it helps you to sweat. Sweating not only helps to cool your body, but it also helps to flush toxins and viruses through your skin.

Common use: vaporizer, diffuser, topical, compress, consumption

Additional symptoms treated: relieves stress, anti-inflammatory, sleep aid

An ancient essential oil that has been used for millennia in the treatment of various illnesses, frankincense essential oil is also used to reduce fever, especially in children. 

Frankincense contains analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, which aid in fever reduction, as well as reducing stress and tension. One of the best qualities of frankincense is that absolutely no side-effects tend to come along with it.

Common use: vaporizer, diffuser, topical, compress

Additional symptoms treated: relieves stress, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, expectorant

Using essential oils with antimicrobial and antiviral properties helps to speed up the process of eliminating the foreign pathogen from your body.

An essential oil which can accomplish that objective while also treating a broad number of symptoms is quite valuable when it comes to combating colds or flu. Such an essential oil really does exist.

Thyme oil is effective against more than 200 different types of viruses that attack the upper respiratory tract as well as being effective against over 120 strains of bacteria. It is also anti-fungal and eliminates molds.

In essence, this oil can eliminate the cause of colds and flu. That by itself makes it pretty valuable in the fight against colds and flu, but it also has a broad range of other properties to boost a weakened immune system and treat symptoms.

Common use: vaporizer, diffuser, topical, compress, gargling, consumption

Each of the 11 essential oils we have discussed are effective when it comes to treating particular symptoms as well as a wide range of symptoms.

Blending them allow you to come up with remedies for treating multiple symptoms or boost their effectiveness.

Here is a simple recipe for making your own homemade vapor rub.

An oil blend that is believed to have dated back to the 15th century and is attributed to four thieves is another highly effective treatment combination for colds and flu.

The basic recipe includes a mixing of the following in a dark glass bowl:

Ten drops each of two or three more essential oils chosen from the following list can be added into the mix as well: tea tree, oregano, thyme, sage, lavender, juniper berry, or bay laurel.

This oil blend should be diluted before being used at a ratio of 6 to 12 ounces of the blend mixed into 1 ounce of a carrier oil like olive, jojoba or coconut oil.

Because citrus is particularly effective for treatment of several of the symptoms, a citrus blend is both a welcome aroma as well as a great way to refresh yourself when you’re under the weather.

Here’s how you mix a fresh citrus blend in a dark glass bowl:

One of the great benefits of this fresh citrus oil is that it can be consumed and makes a very flavorful tea. It is also very effective when used for gargling.

There are a number of different ways to make use of essential oils in the fight against colds and flu.

Here is a brief description of some of the best applications of the essential oils and essential oil blends we have already discussed.

Essential oils are most often used as a form of aroma therapy in which they are used to affect the limbic system in order to produce the therapeutic results intended.

This is accomplished through inhalation of the aroma or essence of the various oils and oil blends and be accomplished through various means, but here are the most common ways:

Used topically, typically with a carrier oil of some type, essential oils absorb through the skin in order to affect the various symptoms for which they are being used.

When treating colds and flu, massaging the oil into the soles of your feet and under your arms will allow for the quickest absorption.

In addition, they can be added to the specific area of pain or discomfort such as the throat, chest, back, neck or temples.

Utilizing essential oils with compresses is another means of bringing symptomatic relief. The most common way of using them with a compress is to add 5 to 10 drops of the oil into 1 to 2 cups of warm, cold or cool water.

You swish the water around to allow the drops to disperse in the water and then you saturate the cloth you intend to use as a compress (a 100% cotton cloth is best).

You will wring out the excess water and then place the compress over the affected area. Here are some of the uses of various temperatures of compresses in the treatments of colds and flu:

Another way to treat colds and flu using essential oils is through the use of gargling. This is especially effective for reducing the burning and irritation of sore throats, but can also have an effect on helping to clear up sinus congestion.

Here’s how to gargle with essential oils:

Most essential oils should not be consumed orally unless they are typically consumed as food or in food as spices or seasonings.

However, even in the case of these essential oils, you want to be certain that the extraction method used to obtain the oil does not contain in toxic chemicals.

Read the label of your essential oil and be sure that it can be consumed before using it in this way. When essential oils are consumed, they are most often consumed in small quantities and added into tea, juice, broth or other foods to diffuse them.

Though quite effective, essential oils are not the only means of combating cold and flu. There are a lot of other natural remedies that will have a powerful effect on fighting off the infection and getting you back to normal again.

Here is a quick list of 7 natural remedies you can take advantage of:

1. Bone Broth -  The vitamins, minerals and amino acids in bone broth are very effective at combating viruses as well as relieving flu symptoms.

Mama’s chicken soup, which is best made using the whole chicken along with the bones is among the best.

2. Garlic and Onions - Common additives to broths and other soups, these two herbs help to boost immune function, and include antibacterial and antiviral properties from allicin.

Hot and sour soup and onion soup are good ways to use these ingredients.

3. Pineapple Juice - The enzyme, bromelain, contained in pineapples is effective at reducing irritation in the throat.

Pineapple is also high in vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals which help to boost your immune response.

4. Ginger Tea - The anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties of ginger make is an excellent cold and flu treatment.

Adding consumable essential oils (especially citrus or spices) into your tea can give it a boost of potency as well.

5. Zinc - Whether in capsule form or from whole foods, getting this trace mineral into your body when you have a cold or the flu can help to shorten the duration and severity of your illness because it limits the ability of a virus to multiply.

6. Elderberry - Another way to limit the ability of a virus to multiply is through the consumption of elderberry, which is especially effective against the flu virus, is loaded with vitamin C and gives your immune system a much needed boost of antioxidants.

7. Water - There is a reason that your doctor always tells you to drink plenty of fluids. Adequate hydration is the key to flushing the virus out of your body and getting rid of your cold or the flu. Drink a minimum of 8 ounces of water every 2 hours.

Antibiotics and medications are virtually ineffective when it comes to treating a cold or the flu because they have no effect on the source of the illness, which is most often the result of a virus taking up residence in your respiratory tract.

Combating the symptom as well as the cause of colds and flu can be accomplished in a number of different ways without the use of medications. Next time you have a cold or the flu, keep these few tips in mind:

When you feel a cold or the flu coming on, there is no need to panic.

Keep your household stocked up on a collection of essential oils which work to combat both the cause and relieve the symptoms of colds and flu and be better prepared to fight back