As a college student, it may be hard to manage taking care of yourself both mentally and physically due to having such a busy schedule. Whenever I start getting sick or begin feeling a headache, I usually take Tylenol or some other over-the-counter medicine.

However, lately I've been seeing articles on my feed and also receiving invites to these events that teach about essential oils. Having little background knowledge of what essential oils are, I decided to find out what this fad is all about. I spoke with Jennifer Boyd, who currently works with an essential oil company called Young Living.

These are some of the questions and answers from our meetup:

What are essential oils?

Essential oils are medicinal oils with therapeutic value. They may come from plants, trees, and shrubs, although not all of them are completely organic.

How are essential oils made?

They are made from collecting plant material to put into a distillery. Some companies make it differently, but with Young Living, their product goes directly from the machine to the bottle, with a seed-to-seal guarantee.

How long have essential oils been around?

Essential oils have been around forever! The bible has a couple of records of them using it, like frankincense and myrrh. It is also seen being used in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

What are the ways to use essential oils?

There are three ways to use essential oils:

1. Aromatically: You can put essential oils into a diffuser for the whole room.

2. Topically: It depends on which oil you are using and also what you're using it for. For beginners, we suggest that you use it on your feet first. Other areas you may use it are on your arm and behind your ears; it all depends on what you're using it for.

3, Ingesting: Unlike many other essential oil companies, Young Living has a line of oils called Vitality that are made for ingesting. You can cook food with it, and put it in a veggie capsule by diluting it with carrier oils (coconut oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, and many more).

What are the benefits of using essential oils?

Essential oils may provide emotional and spiritual wellness as well as boosting the immune system. Essential oils also may be able to ease head pressure, stomach aches, cold sores, and other possible body pains.

What are oils that a college student (or anyone) can use on the daily?

Some of these oils (from Young Living) can be used everyday:

1. Thieves: For immune boosting properties

2. Peppermint: For digestion and stomach aches

3. Lavender: For relaxing, sleep, cuts and burns

4. Brain Power: Helps keep you focused and energized

5. Frankincense: To help put you in a better mood, and helps with focusing

What are some household items that you've replaced with essential-oil products?

Young Living also provides certain products like bathroom and kitchen cleaners, which are great because they are nontoxic. I feel completely safer knowing that since I have kids.

Are there any dangers to using essential oils?

There are certain oils to be avoided when one is pregnant, breastfeeding, has high blood pressure, has diabetes or has epilepsy. It is strongly advised that you should dilute any oils you use on children. You should not use oils on babies under six months. However, there are no records of essential oils causing any deaths.

Conclusion:

Essential oils are definitely not known to the mass population but are worth gaining more knowledge about.

For more information: http://www.loveheartoils.com/