Essential oils are potent concentrates of plant material that hold the key to curing so many ailments. Research carried out on essential oils for lung cancer prove their miraculous benefits in healing and reversing cancer cells. Find out which essential oils work best for cancer and how exactly you can use them.
How Do Essential Oils Work?
Essential oils are only recently gaining momentum in the natural health world – but in fact they have been used for many millennia by ancient civilizations to heal and soothe many health conditions.
The molecules of essential oils are small enough to penetrate the blood barriers within the body. This is what makes them so potent at fighting cancer. Essential oil particles can loge themselves onto cancer cells and fight them using their potent anti-carcinogenic effects.
Essential oils are absorbed by the body in 3 ways; ingestion, inhalation and topical application. Here’s an indepth look at these methods of entry for essential oils:
1. Ingestion: Although not popularly recommended to the general public, essential oils can be ingested, that is, consumed orally, under the careful supervision of a certified health professional. Essential oils are highly potent and not more than 1 – 2 drops are safe for ingestion at a time. The mode of ingestion is also important, with encapsulation and dilution with carrier oils, being the preferred forms of oral consumption. See more: Can I Ingest Essential Oils?
2. Inhalation: The safest form of using essential oils is through inhalation. This can be done by simply breathing in the essential oil directly from the bottle and applying a few drops of essential oil to a handkerchief and inhaling from there. By far, the most popular form of essential oil inhalation is by using a diffuser, which projects the tiny oil molecules into the air, from where you can breathe in its therapeutic particles.
3. Topical Application: Another potent method of absorbing essential oils is through application on the skin. Our skin is semi-permeable, with up to 60% of products applied on it being absorbed into the bloodstream. Essential oils can be applied, with proper dilution, all over the skin, at certain pulse points or in the areas of pain, or illness to benefit from their healing properties.
Lung Cancer – The Number 1 Cancer Killer
As of today, lung cancer is the second leading cause of death in both men and women, after skin cancer. Up to 14% of new cancers diagnosed are lung cancer.
Lung cancer occurs where abnormal cells cluster together to form cancerous tumors, within the lungs. Every person’s lung cancer is unique, which is why one treatment does not work for all. Proper diagnosis is needed to determine the nature of your lung cancer and which targeted treatment will work for you.
Although smoking makes you more at-risk for lung cancer, anyone can get lung cancer. I attribute this to the heavily polluted air, which we breathe in thanks to industrialization, fumes from vehicles, airborne pesticides, synthetic fragrances and more.
Essential oils can help cleanse your lungs and destroy cancerous cells as and when they form. Essential oils can also actively kill cancerous cells through their antioxidant activities and more.
Research on Essential Oils for Lung Cancer
Research carried out by scientists at the North East Forestry Institute, China in 2010 showed the effect of 10 essential oils on human cancer cells. The essential oils studied included mint, ginger, lemon, grapefruit, thyme, rose and lavender, among others. Some of the essential oils were found to inhibit tumor growth and formation. They were also found to be effective at destroying prostrate cancer cells, although their effect was less on human breast cancer and lung cancer cells. (1)
Studies, such as one published in the European Journal of Medical Science in 2013, have shown that certain essential oils, such as mint, have been found to be highly effective in relieving the side effects of chemotherapy, such as nausea and vomiting. For cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, essential oils can be of great relief and comfort. (2)
A report published in Palliative Medicine in 2004 showed that essential oils, such as lavender, play a valuable role in ameliorating the pain, suffering and mental anguish that those diagnosed with cancer undergo. Widely used in aromatherapy, lavender oil has been found to reduce distress faced by cancer patients. (3)
The Best 5 Essential Oils for Lung Cancer
1. Thyme Essential Oil
The number one essential oil that pops up over and over again when it comes to essential oils and cancer is thyme essential oil (where to get it).
A study published in the Molecules journal in 2010 showed that out of 10 essential oils studied, thyme was shown to have remarkable anti-cancer properties against human cancer cells in breast cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancers. (1)
2. Clary Sage Essential Oil
Interestingly enough, clary sage essential oil (where to get it) has been shown by numerous studies to trigger the process of apoptosis in cancer cells. Apoptosis refers to programmed self-destruction of a cell, whereby a cell kills itself – literally committing suicide. (4)
Clary Sage’s apoptosis-inducing properties can affect the rate at which cancer cells proliferate. They can hinder the development of lung cancer and can treat cancer. This powerful essential oil can also prevent and halt the formation of lung cancer in those with family history of the cancer.
3. Frankincense Essential Oil
An ancient essential oil, frankincense (where to get it) has been used since biblical times for its spiritual and physical healing properties. Extracted from the resin of the Boswellia tree species, this essential oil is rich in anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-cancerous properties.
Along with other holistic anti-cancer protocols, the usage of frankincense essential oil is highly beneficial in relieving the pain and mental stress associated with cancer treatment and recovery. Most notable is frankincense’s anti-inflammatory effect, which helps indirectly reduce the proliferation of cancer that arises from inflammation at a cellular level. (5)
4. Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender oil (where to get it) is one of those versatile essential oils that seem to have no end to their list of uses. Lavender oil exhibits superior anti-oxidant qualities, which are highly important to lung cancer patients.
It is well known that those suffering from cancer have an overload of oxidative stress in their bodies. Oxidative stress is caused by free radicals in the body, which damage otherwise healthy cells. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals in the body thereby putting an end to their damage. Although the body makes its own antioxidants, cancer patients, especially those undergoing radiation could use the extra help provided by the powerful antioxidant compounds in lavender oil. (6)
5. Mint Essential Oil
Mint essential oil, derived from the common and humble peppermint or spearmint herb, is rich in compounds such as linalool and menthol, which can be a great supportive use to all cancer patients. Get peppermint essential oil or spearmint essential oil.
Many lung cancer patients undergoing treatment face debilitating side effects, which can greatly sabotage the quality of their lives. Potent essential oils like mint oil can help manage some of these side effects such as headaches, nausea, lack of appetite and vomiting in order to make life more bearable. (7)
How to Use Essential Oils for Lung Cancer
There are many ways in which the 5 best essential oils for lung cancer outlined above, can be used along side conventional cancer treatment. These include:
- Add essential oils to your bath to relax and de-stress
- Diffuse essential oils in your room using a high quality non-plastic diffuser
- Use a personal aromatherapy diffuser that you can carry wherever you go
- Add essential oils to your massage oil
- Use essential oils in a relaxing foot bath
- Ingestion of certain essential oils (only to be done under the care of a doctor)
Tips on Using Essential Oils for Lung Cancer
Never use the same essential oil for many days at a time. This will lead to desensitization for that particular essential oil, where your body gets used to the essential oil and the same dosage will stop being effective. You may have to keep on increasing the dosage to get the same effect, which is not a smart thing to do since essential oils are so potent.
You can instead vary the essential oils that you use from day-to-day. If you use peppermint on Day 1, you can use thyme on Day 2, and so on and so forth.
Also, try varying the method in which you use the essential oils. For example, on Day 1 you may diffuse lemongrass essential oil in your plastic-free diffuser for about an hour. On Day 2 you can enjoy a revitalizing soak by dropping some lemongrass oil into your bath. This will help keeps things interesting, too!
Keep a journal documenting the essential oils you used that day and how it made you feel. Journalling has been shown to be relaxing and helpful for cancer patients.
References
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20657472/
(2) https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2014/154106/#B201
(3) http://pmj.sagepub.com/content/18/2/87.short
(4) http://pubget.com/articles/elasticsearch_show/25672419
(5) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309643/v
(6) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944711312005120
(7) http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00520-001-0335-y