16 Best Essential Oils for the Immune System

Imagine this scene: You’re submerged in a bubble bath, relaxing music is playing in the background. Candles flicker as you enjoy a good book,maybe even a glass of wine. Your diffuser gently disperses the calming scent of lavender throughout the air.

This is one of our favorite ways to use essential oils—as part of a self-care routine—but did you know that essential oils can also help strengthen your immune system?

Today, the practice of aromatherapy is quite popular. This model of aromatherapy originated in France. It involves the therapeutic application or medicinal plants. These plants are refined, going through several steps until they are in their most concentrated form:essential oils. Essential oils are a valuable form of holistic healing.They have value, both as an ancient practice and one that is backed by modern science. Many recent studies, many of which have been conducted during the current pandemic, highlight the connection between essential oils and the immune system.

So what role do essential oils play in your immunity? And how do you mix them for an even greater effect? In this blog, we’ll learn how essential oils can help boost your immune system and which are the best ones to use.

What Essential Oils Are Good for Immunity?

This question is asked often, especially during COVID-19. Since the immune system can be affected by different factors, there are many essential oils that can be used to boost specific immune function. What’s important to understand is how essential oils can help in the fight against different pathogens—invasive substances like bacteria and viruses that can be harmful and cause illness.

From a physical standpoint, essential oils can help with viral, bacterial, and fungal infection as well as parasites that have infected your respiratory system, skin, digestive pathways, and more. They can also help relieve some of the effects of digestive, joint, muscle, tendon, and metabolic problems. Essential oils can also provide vital support to your mental health. They are proven to be effective at decreasing fatigue, stress, anxiety, and many other mental health conditions. If you’re wondering how this could possibly be true, think back to our aromatherapy and bubble bath example. What a great way to reduce your level of stress! 

All of these strains, both physical and mental, negatively impact your immune system and health overall. Any of the essential oils targeting the source of these symptoms will help support the immune system and improve your immunity overall.

What Are the Best Essential Oils for the Immune System?

If you’re looking to support your immune system through relaxation, here are some of our favorite essential oils for the immune system.

1. Lavender: In essential oil practices, lavender is a multipurpose oil. It is proven to have important health benefits and it has anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antidepressant, antibacterial, and antimicrobial functions. It acts as a sedative and helps your body detoxify. It also lowers your blood pressure, prevents spasms, and treats pain.

2. Petitgrain: Effectively harmonizing, Petitgrain bitter orange essential oil reduces daily tension and helps improve mood. This essential oil facilitates relaxation and fights against stress. Overall, it has a calming and pleasant effect on the body.

3. Ylang Ylang: Ylang ylang essential oil helps reduce inflammation, relieve pain, improve mood, and enhance libido. All of which are great benefits!

4. Geranium Bourbon: This improves immune function more indirectly. It helps balance your mood when you experience sadness or agitation. These emotional responses can be tiring and taxing for your body, dampening your spirits and making it more difficult to get proper rest. Again, reducing these negative emotions can help strengthen the immune system and the body overall.

5. Chamomile: Chamomile oil has been used by many cultures to treat digestive issues and to promote healing after injury. Emerging research has begun to shed light on other potential benefits, such as its ability to help with depression and anxiety. Brew yourself a warm cup of chamomile tea before bed and let it do its work.

If you’re looking for an antiviral, antibacterial, or antifungal, try the following:

6. Ravintsara: Ravintsara is a powerful essential oil that has antiviral and antibacterial properties. It’s also immunostimulating. It acts as a decongestant and expectorant. It helps fight the flu, sinusitis, bronchitis, rhinitis, and more. Plus, it’s anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant, meaning that it helps drain the lymphatic system. Plus, it can help with weight loss.

7. Rosewood: Rosewood helps treat colds, coughs, and sinusitis. It has the ability to regulate muscle spasms and to help control bronchial disorders such as asthma.

8. Eucalyptus: This essential oil opens the airways and acts as an antibacterial, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral. It’s also beneficial for arthritis and other aches and pains due to its anti-inflammatory properties. Other therapeutic properties include:pain relief, decongestant, and expectorant. Eucalyptus can also help ease the symptoms of a cough.

9.Thyme: Thyme isn’t just a delicious addition to your favorite soup or spaghetti sauce. The oil is effective at calming muscle spasms and easing cough symptoms. When mixed with Primrose, it can also help shorten the duration of respiratory infections, such as the common cold.

10. Niaouli: Anti-fungal, antibacterial, and antiviral, Niaouli helps shorten the duration of the cold or flu and to relieve your sore throat, cough, and congested or runny nose. Inhale Niaouli oil in a steam bath if you’re feeling congested. The steam combined with the essential oil will quickly clear sinuses.

11. Palmarosa: Palmarosa has long been used to prevent infection and to help reduce fever.

12. Laurel: This essential oil is an antibacterial and an antifungal. It can promote health in the respiratory system by expelling mucus and easing coughs.

13. Rosemary: This oil is often used to treat respiratory issues as it behaves like a decongestant. It can also help combat stress.

14. Tea Tree: Tea tree oil is a powerhouse--it possesses anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, and antimicrobial properties. If you’re the parent of teens, it’s also effective against acne.

15. Cinnamon: You probably have this essential oil for the immune system on your kitchen shelf. Its powerful antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties make it a staple for any pharmacy. It's a well-known scent, both captivating and reassuring at the same time.

16. Clove: Clove is very powerful and effective at treating oral infection and pain related to abscesses, gingivitis, mouth ulcers, and toothache. It’s also an important antimicrobial, helping to fight off harmful bacterial or fungal germs. As a general stimulant, Clove oil is often recommended in cases of great physical or mental fatigue.

How Do You Use Essential Oils for Immunity?

If you’re feeling off, either physically or mentally, the first step is to troubleshoot. Do some research to see if you can pinpoint the cause of your symptoms. If not, reach out to your general practitioner for advice. Once you’ve identified the issue, pick out which essential oil is best for treating it. After that, read the instructions and pick whichever method of application best fits your needs. 

Cutaneous Application

The most common way to apply essential oils is the cutaneous (skin) application method because it’s easy and allows a larger amount of the essential oil to be used.After the essential oil is placed on your skin, it is gradually absorbed into the bloodstream.. If it causes a sensation of burning, irritation, etc., act quickly--immediately rinse off the spot where you applied the essential oil with water. If the discomfort does not subside, put some vegetable oil on a washcloth, wipe the spot and then rinse it with water again.

This application is used not only for topical effect, but also for general health or even to complement another method of application. For example, it can complement an inhalation treatment for a respiratory infection. 

Inhalation Application

Inhalation is perhaps the most popular or well-known method in the U.S. You inhale the scent of the essential oils from the air, after they are released via a diffuser or a bowl of hot water. This is the fastest and longest lasting method of essential oil application.. It can promote health in your respiratory pathways, and can improve your mental, relaxing you and decreasing your level of stress.. Again, be cautious as some essential oils can be irritating or toxic. If you begin to cough, sneeze, feel itchy, or any other negative side effect, turn the diffuser off or drain the water. Open your window to let the scented-air out. Then leave the room until the scent has vanished. 

Oral Application

Another easy way to get your dose of essential oils is to drink it. Essential oils must always be mixed and carried with another oil like vegetable oil in order to be consumer. They cannot be taken pure, nor should they be taken with just sugar or honey. We’ve formulated the perfect blend of essential oils for the immune system that is safe and easy to mix with your favorite 4oz drink.

Vaginal and Rectal Application

These applications are localized, but will have an effect on the body’s general system once it enters the bloodstream. These two applications are less known to the general public.

When Blending Essential Oils, How Many Drops of Each Should Be Used?

As we mentioned above, essential oils must be diluted properly for safe use as a too high dosage can make the essential oil toxic. In your average supermarket, you will find many products that have essential oils in their ingredient list. To get a clearer picture, see the product’s general guideline for dilution. The percentage will vary depending on the effect you are looking for.

For example, you’ll find that essential oils are usually in doses of 1% or less in cosmetic products. For immunity and depending on the end result you want, here are some ideas for effective dosage:

• Epidermic action (repair): 3%
• Nervous system: 5-7%
• Circulatory: 7-10%
• Spasmodic or digestive: 10-15%
• Anti infectious: 10-20%
• Boosting/anti-asthenic: 25-50%

These are just general guidelines. In the end, a certified aromatherapist should be the one to help you put together a blend and dosage that helps boost your immune system. We’ve done the work for you with our immune system supplement.

Teramune Essential Oils

At Teramune, we premix our unique blend of edible essential oils with a water-based emulsifier. For adults, we recommend using it whenyou start feeling symptoms of a cold or general fatigue and weakness. We’ve made it easy for you to use:

1. Shake vigorously to mix the essential oils with the emulsifier (the emulsifier prevents any potential digestive distress).
2. Add 20 drops to a 4oz drink of your choice (water, juice, a smoothie, etc.) three times a day for 2-3 days, or until you feel better. After you feel an improvement, decrease your intake to 10-15 drops to your 4oz drink once or twice a day for a few more days until you feel great.
3. If someone around you is sick, you can take 10 drops in a 4oz drink of your choice 1-2 times a day as a preventive measure.

If you have a sick toddler at home, take Teramune at the same time as your child to protect yourself and ensure you stay healthy enough to take care of them. The average time needed to take Teramune Immune Support is 5-7 days with a maximum of 21 days in a row for adults and 10 days for kids. For 21 days, the dosage should be minimal: once a day at 5-10 drops a day.

Check our website for more information on the proper way to use our immune support blend.

How to Mix Essential Oils for Immunity

Once you’ve determined how you want to support your immune system, you need to know how to mix the essential oils.Mixing essential oils requires knowledge and experience, so we usually don’t recommend that you buy essential oils over the counter without talking to a professional practitioner who can give you a specific dosage and instructions for application. So don’t go overboard with that aromatherapy bubble bath just yet.

Mixing essential oils is part of an overall process that must be done with a certified aromatherapy specialist. So many aspects must be taken into consideration: your genetics, your health background, any allergies you have and any current medications. Don’t forget, if you plan to inhale or digest the essential oil regularly, try to find a taste or smell you enjoy. 

Many essential oils will have similar properties. Sometimes they can be substituted, but sometimes they can’t. In general, start with three different oils that have the properties that will support your immune system the way you want. Once you have more experience with essential oils and with the help of a certified aromatherapist, you can add a few more.

How Many Times a Day Do You Use Essential Oils for Immunity?

In general, after defining the need you have and how you want to support your immune system, the dosage always starts higher for a short period of time, then reduces after a few days. For example, you would take the essential oil three times a day for two days, then reduce your intake to twice a day for five days, depending on how you feel. We recommend using the same system that we described above to intake your immune support product.. If you are treating anxiety or stress, you should consume your supplement fewer times a day, for a longer window of treatment.

It’s also important not to use too many essential oils at once. Try one blend at a time, unless multiple are prescribed by your professional practitioner. 

Many essential oils can help the immune system depending on how you want to support it. Our products directly support you when you face an infectionmild or acute infection. However, you may just need to support your immunity on a daily basis, depending on your health and medical history. For example, if you’re recovering from a chronic disease, it is advisable that you take the supplement more often.

It’s important to note that the essential oils and aromatherapy are a form of support to be used in conjunction with general medicine. They’re not to replace going to your doctor and being diagnosed properly by a certified professional. Aromatherapy should support the treatment you are prescribed. It’s not a quick fix. On the contrary, it often requires a change in your lifestyle to fully restore your health. For example, you may need to eat more healthfully, sleep more or change your exercise routine.

The Science of Teramune

We won’t cover essential oils in greater detail or how to make blends in this blog because it's personalized experience--it needs to be customized to your specific needs and supervised by a professional practitioner. We believe in functional medicine and safety first. We’ve formulated products with experts in aromatherapy and phytotherapy. We also put one of our products through a clinical trial, which it passed very successfully. Essential oils are an important form of treatment that is available to you, but again, should be guided by a professional.

We are invested in safety, quality, and what has been backed by science. The essential oils for the immune system that we’ve covered today are for you to start investigating more and inquiring about with the right professionals. We don’t believe that essential oils should be sold without specific instructions on how to use them.

The best way to support your immune system is to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle, which includes different aspects such as a healthy diet, exercise, mindfulness, etc. Check out our different blogs on each of these subjects to learn more.

Try Organic Edible Essential Oil for Your Immunity

For the best essential oils for the immune system, there’s Teramune immune support. Our entire collection of essential oils is made from the highest quality edible essential oils and is vegan, non-GMO, alcohol-free, and certified organic. Contact us to learn more about essential oils,immunity and your path to greater wellness.

Reference pages

• https://bestaromatherapyproducts.com/blog/10-essential-oils-to-strengthen-your-immune-system/
• https://www.doterra.com/US/en/wellness-topics-boosting-immune-system 
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6943609/
• https://www.zyto.com/10-essential-oils-for-immunity