Use Common Scents to Fight the Winter Blues

With the festive holiday portion of the season passed, those same elements that created winter wonderland magic in December can lead to an unpleasant lethargy beginning in January known as seasonal affective disorder. Cheery turns to dreary as cold temperatures, gray skies, barren landscapes, shorter days, and reduced activity bring on feelings of sadness, depression, and general loss of energy. Add to this the inclination to shut ourselves indoors against the frigid outside air, sometimes in the cramped company of loved ones who we find much more lovable in shorter doses, and irritability also becomes a major factor of the Winter Blues.

Before you give up and just curl miserably into a corner waiting for April–or lose all patience with Aunt Ethel who has asked you for the twentieth time, and tell her that yes, as a matter of fact, those new Christmas stretch pants do make her butt look big–why not take the opportunity to treat yourself to a whiff of aromatic relief that might just thaw some of your frozen holiday spirit for the remaining winter months? Not only can certain essential oils reduce seasonal stress and depression, they can cleanse and freshen stale air and even improve spacial perception in a winter-sealed home.

Woodsy scents are excellent for warding off seasonal depression. As the gray days grow shorter and the dark nights grow longer, we yearn for the life and light of warm sunny days. It’s more than holiday tradition that has induced us, since ancient times, to adorn our indoors with the outdoors at the onset of the cold season with fragrant branches of refreshing evergreens like mistletoe, holly, pine and fir. Likewise, the rich, sweet aroma of a frankincense and myrrh based blend is meditative and relaxing to the winter-weary heart.

Citrus oils are particularly recommended, as their fresh uplifting scent can melt away the anxiety and lethargy brought on by long periods of relative confinement (the practice of doling out lemons to seamen on months-long voyages may well have done more than prevent scurvy, it may have inadvertently prevented a mutiny or two as well).

Other essential oils especially useful during winter months include eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, tea tree, ginger, cinnamon, bergamot, clary sage, chamomile, and lavender.