FEELING ANXIOUS? TRY LAVENDER.

Sometimes things just don’t seem to go your way, leaving you with angry, anxious feelings. Now a study from the University of Tsukuba in Japan concludes that lavender can significantly change those feelings of conflict and anxiety.

References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this articleLavender oil produced significant anti-conflict effects in the Geller conflict test and in the Vogel conflict test, suggesting that the oil has an anti-anxiety effect. Linalool, a major constituent of lavender oil, produced significant anti-conflict effects in the Geller and Vogel tests, findings similar to those of lavender oil, thus identifying linalool as the major pharmacologically active constituent involved in the anti-anxiety effect of lavender oil.

National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0053, Japan College of Nursing and Medical Technology, University of Tsukuba, Japan 14 December 2006. SCIENCEDIRECT.COM

Sonoma Lavender recommendations for products to reduce feelings of conflict and anxiety:

Lavender Candles or Lavender Diffuser

Lavender sachets tucked in the car, purse, briefcase.

Lavender lotion, shower gel, oil.

DRY SKIN BLUES

About this time of year my legs start looking like snake skin before molting... really. I never understood why lotion doesn't really help, until my esthetician friend, explained it to me. You need to get rid of the old skin, before lotion can make any difference. Oh, so that's what our Lavender salt scrub is for. :-) Try this next time you need to molt and you will be amazed by the results. Scrub your dry skin with lavender salt scrub until it is fresh and pink. Rinse off and apply lavender lotion. Your skin will look five years younger, no kidding.

LAVENDER FOR DOGS

We went to Florida for the holidays and left our dog, Max with our trusted dog sitter. A few days into the holiday she called me and said Max was scratching and biting a raw spot on his inner leg and seemed to be very agitated. . Missing his Mom, I was sure! We'd faced this problem before. Max is a scratcher if he gets nervous, or their are weeds and pollens that set his skin crawling. I asked her to apply lavender essential oil straight on the raw spot and around it.

Lavender essential oil does mulitple duty in this case:
1. Heals the broken skin.
2. Soothe itchy skin.
3. Soothe nervous, agitated feelings.
4. Repel any insects, fleas, ticks, etc.
5. The strong pungent taste of lavender oil prevents further licking and biting.

Later that day, our dog sitter reported that Max had left the spot alone, and by the time we returned the spot had healed.

Makes me wonder if we should launch a line of pet products!

For the Love of Lavender, Rebecca