Looking for an essential oil that caters to all health-related necessities?
Fortunately, we have great news for you because we have an answer for that! It’s called Bergamot essential oil. Ever heard of that? If not, then you are missing a lot about how beneficial it is for you.
So you are interested in this magical essential oil we just mentioned? Keep reading as we uncover its health benefits and its other uses that you won’t find in other popular essential oils. Let’s start!
What is Bergamot Essential Oil?
Bergamot oil is extracted from fruit of Bergamot tree that belong to the Rutaceae family. The species has a predominated distribution in Italian Reggio Calabria, with a few other warmer regions including Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Bergamot is a flower plant whose height can reach 14′ tall with strong branches delivering abundant fruit during their growth season. The fruit is green in colour and can turn yellowish/orange in color at full maturation.
Bergamot essential oil refers to the oil extracted from the rind of the fruit of the bergamot, a citrus tree that thrives very well in Europe. It has a similar color and shape with other citrus fruits like orange and lemon.
A Pleasant Everyday Essential
This essential oil is known for its sweet, fruity aroma that has an uplifting effect and it is used as an ingredient of homemade candles and most men’s and women’s perfumes. Like what you expect from citrus fruit the aroma is light-filled and refreshing, but has a green note that reduces the sweetness. The oil can be used for aromatherapy and is commonly used for perfume in cosmetics.
But aside from its great scent, bergamot essential oil is also used for its ability to fight body odor, heal wounds, expel intestinal parasites, induce sleep, kill germs, disinfect, promote calmness, and many more.
Bergamot essential just like any other essential oil has a complex composition that contributes to its effects to our health when used. For instance, one of the its components, limonene, is known to serve as an antioxidant which absorbs and fights the harmful free radicals. Moreover, it can also help in reducing the risk of cancer developments and the oxidative stress that offers great skin benefits.
Here are the other components that you can find in Bergamot essential oil:
- Alpha-terpineol
- Linalool
- Linalyl acetate
- Neryl
- Acetate
- Geraniol
- Myrcene
- Beta bisabolene
Bergamot Oil Extraction from Fruit
Just like any other essential oil product, bergamot also undergoes a rigorous process before it goes to your favorite grocery, market or drugstore.
Obviously, bergamot essential oil is extracted from the rind or peel of the bergamot fruit as it contains a significant strong sweet aroma. There are two methods that are used to extract the oils from its peel. These methods are freeze-dry method and by using an extraction agent through ultrasonic extraction.
Bergamot Oil Benefits: Your all-in-one health companion
Are you starting to like bergamot aromatherapy oil? If you are still not convinced you may want to hold on a little and take some time to look into its health benefits.
Now that you know where bergamot essential oil came from and how it is processed, let’s look at how it affects your health.
Here are the most common bergamot oil benefits to your health:
1. It helps to relieve depression.
Bergamot essential oil contains alpha pinene and limonene. These are organic compounds that help to relieve stress and improve mood. They help to energize and cheer you up especially when you are feeling down or depressed.
According to a scientific study, it shows that bergamot oil contains sedation and anxiolytic properties that are similar to medicine called diazepam. Diazepam is a common medication used to treat people that are experiencing anxiety and alcohol withdrawal. Thus, this essential oil is believed to have an effect that can help relieve depression.
In addition to this, the essential oil is also believed to alleviate the mood of its users. According to a study, the effects of bergamot oil is believed to give its users a positive mood after using it.
2. It helps to make you feel relaxed.
If there is one thing that everyone likes about essential oils, it is probably the fact that they all have a pleasant smell. And that is one of the things that you will also love about Bergamot oil.
The flavonoids in you can smell by inhaling bergamot oil work to soothe your nerves and reduce your feelings of nervousness or anxiety. It contains sedative properties that help to induce sleep, calmness and is also great in relieving stress. Research suggests that it also works to lower high blood pressure, insomnia, as well as depression.
3. It helps to protect the body from germs, virus and fungi.
Bergamot essential oil contains disinfectant and anti bacterial properties that work to protect the skin from harmful organisms such as bacteria, virus and fungi which are the primary causes of infections.
These antibiotic and disinfectant properties also play an important role in the fast healing up of wounds, cuts, minor burns, and cracks on skin and heels.
4. It helps to fight fever and lowers body temperature.
With the surge of the pandemic, we want to ensure that our family is protected from harmful diseases.
Bergamot essential oils contain properties that help to stimulate sweating and reduce body temperature. Its antibiotic properties also help to fight viruses, bacteria, and protozoa that cause fever or influenza.
5. It helps to reduce headaches and pain in the body.
This essential oil is known to stimulate the brain to produce pain-relieving hormones which help to lessen the sensitivity of nerves to pain. The essential oil’s pain relieving properties are very helpful in reducing headaches and severe body pains such as the ones that result from sprain inflammation.
Aside from these, it can also be used as a massage oil to help ease pain experienced by the body. To use it for massage, simply mix and dilute well the bergamot oil with any carrier oil.
Listed below are some of the carrier oil you can use to pair with the essential oil:
- Apricot oil
- Grape seed oil
- Avocado oil
- Evening primrose oil
- Rapeseed oil
- Camellia seed oil
6. It helps to improve digestion.
Bergamot essential oil helps to stimulate the secretion of bile, enzymes, and acids that are needed in the digestion process.
For instance, it regulates the peristaltic motions of your intestines which stimulates the digestive process. This will aid in reducing constipation and easing bowel movements in the digestive system, thereby reducing gastrointestinal indigestion.
7. It helps to make scars and other skin marks disappear.
Looking for a natural body wash remedy for skin irritation? Bergamot oil contains properties that promotes better skin health.
This essential oil contains cicatrizant properties which work to make scars and other marks on the skin fade away. This is one of the reasons why bergamot essential oil is used as an ingredient in a lot of beauty products including beauty soaps, creams, lotions, and other skin-care products.
Here are the other effects of bergamot oils to the skin:
- Aid in reducing skin inflammation
- Fights skin infection
- Relieves irritated scalp
- Protects the skin from direct sunlight
8. It helps to fight body odor.
As we have mentioned, this essential oil is known ingredient used in the perfumery industry. And if you have problems with body odor, don’t forget to add bergamot essential oil in your grocery list.
Bergamot essential oil has a refreshing aroma and disinfectant properties that help to inhibit the growth of germs that can cause body odor. You can also use this essential oil as a mouthwash to stop bad breath and to kill germs that can cause dental cavities. It is also widely used as a body wash and lotion ingredient not only because of its pleasant scent but also its positive effects for those with sensitive skin.
9. It helps to relax muscles and relieve spasms.
Aside from its anti inflammatory properties, bergamot essential oil works to relive muscle pain after a day of workout or practice.
This essential oil contains anti spasmodic properties that help to relax muscles and provide relief from convulsions, abnormal muscle contractions, muscle cramps and spasms. This are due to the linalool and carvacrol component that are found in the oil. These two are used as muscle relaxer, pain fighter and could also normalize heart rate.
10. It helps to kill intestinal parasites.
Bergamot essential oil is a fragrant vermifuge that you can use to expel intestinal worms from children. Just like other essential oils, diluting bergamot oil can have antimicrobial properties that can prevent and kill harmful parasites in the body.
These are some of the most common health benefits of bergamot essential oil.
To ensure its potency, it is imperative to properly store it properly. Keep in mind that you should always store it in dark bottles and keep it protected from sunlight which can spoil it and make it toxic.
Alternative Essential Oils
Although bergamot oil is widely available in the market, there may be some cases that you wanted to try other essential oils. Don’t worry ’cause we got you covered.
From other citrus oils to the most popular essential oils, we have listed them to widen you options:
- Lavender oil
- Coconut Oil
- Roman Chamomile Oil
- Hyssop Oil
- Clary Sage Oil
- Basil Oil
- Sparemint oil
You can also blend bergamot essential oil with other essential oils such as the ones extracted from frankincense, jasmine, sandalwood, rosemary, orange, cypress, and ylang-ylang. Adding bergamot oil can help improve its effects in fighting skin infections.
Our takeaway
While there Bergamot essential oil promotes various benefits, it still requires further study to solidify some of it health benefits. Despite these, we cannot deny the benefits of bergamot oil which already plays a huge role in a person’s daily life.
A few drops of bergamot oil can bring a huge sense relief that can calm the nerves. This is a much needed refreshment needed by anyone who came from a long tiring day at work.
So if you are looking for other essential oils to have a breath of fresh air anywhere you are, you can browse through our aromatherapy-related blog posts for more.
