Friday, May 21, 2010

Wild Mint Room Freshener







When my husband was finishing his dissertation, he would become mentally exhausted and stressed out but had to continue his demanding timeline and workload. After reading the benefits of peppermint oil, I purchased a small bottle of it. He began carrying it in his backpack. When he was completely mentally tired or before any big tests, he would take the small bottle out and breath it in deeply. This simple act sent new stimuli to his brain. It helped him feel less stress and improved his mental stamina. I will never forget this experience or the benefits of breathing in the oil. It was such an easy way to help him with the daily stress of life and it worked!
Nowadays, when I clean my house I want to refresh the air around me. I think about lighting my candles, and while smelling 'good', can actually fill the air with harmful chemicals and make my lungs work harder at keeping the air clean. Yuck! Now what?
...Mint! I have a patch of wild mint growing in my backyard! The patch was healthy and I cut a large handful from it. I placed it in a sauce pan of water and set it on the stove to boil. The whole house was filled with the delicious smell of mint. It was just what I needed to feel revived and ready to clean! It felt great knowing that I could throw away polluting candles, plug-ins and sprays and send fragrance threw my house naturally!
Luckily, the health food store has a ton of different essential oils that make it possible to change the scents regularly! Jasmine in the air is one of my favorites, so far, and a little goes throughout the entire house.
Who knew the mint patch in my backyard could enhance my life so easily just by giving it a thought!

Interesting trivia for the history of Mint Aromatherapy:

The British Medical Journal in 1879 wrote that smelling menthol, (the main component in peppermint) relieves headaches and nerve pain. It became hugely popular to have a menthol cone in the home that would evaporate and fill the air with the smell of mint! Scientists agree that peppermint oil can help improve concentration and help us stay awake and alert.
For more interesting reading on using mint to relieve pain check out:
http://www.physorg.com/news75385697.html

Here's to Happy Smelling!
Be Well,
DandelionHeart Opening For You




6 comments:

i cant decide said...

I like this idea. I read somewhere that just putting a bouquet of herbs in a vase is good for air quality. And the scent is good for our health, mental and physical. Herbs have so many interesting qualities. I want to get more into the uses of herbs besides for cooking and medicinal. I love reading blogs, like yours, that make me think, remember, and try new things.

Dandelion Heart said...

Thanks Briana for the compliment. I love reading about herbs and how they affect our systems. I have been using 1-2 drops of peppermint oil in a bath and am loving how it makes me feel.
I read an interesting fact from the International Journal of Neuroscience. They discovered that mint also has the ability to suppress appetite. That's good news, when I am on my way to a huge party filled with unhealthy foods. I might just be mints 'NEW' biggest fan!

mom maverick said...

i must try this!! they put a peppermint/menthol oil in the steam room at the fitness center and it smells the whole womens lockerroom and it's so lovely and wakes me up! i need to grow some of this!! thanks for sharing the vaccum cleaner tips and boiling it! never thought to do that! love your pic....so pretty and cute

mom maverick said...

oh! but also...we had some mint growing in a yard of a house we used to live in. i had no idea what it was...till i mowed over it and well...it smelled like mint! so, here's a mint tip...if you ever mow over it, no worries! you can't kill it, unless you rip it out by the roots. and it grows back, EVERY TIME after mowing. (at the time, i was just annoyed by it, because of the location where it had been planted wasn't very practical.);)

Dandelion Heart said...

Thanks t-berg for you comments! That's a great mowing tip and new way of identifying mint! ;)

katskraps4kids said...

Isn't it funny how all these expensive things to wake us up and give us energy just send us crashing down later? & I am an admitted caffeine addict so you know I KNOW about the crash. When I tried to get off the Dr.Pepper dependance after I graduated, I had a monster headache for over a week. But this is a great idea I think I'll try. tfs!