Did you know that (July 11^th) is International Essential Oils Day? Being such a special day, I’m sitting here in gratitude to D. Gary Young, the founder of Young Living Essential Oils. 

I was already an essential oil lover years before I met Gary. By the time I encountered Young Living, I already had 20 or 25 good quality essential oils from a variety of brands, and I was using them not only for their aromas, but also to enhance my own wellbeing.

But everything changed when I encountered Young Living. Without even smelling them first, I ordered them based on the information in a cassette I had listened to with Gary Young talking on it. I went on pure instinct, knowing I was being pointed towards Young Living. 

Little did I know the incredible adventure they would take me on, which would lead me around the globe (many times) to study with Gary Young, and to continue to be inspired by his wisdom and his passion for essential oils. 

I had no idea of the difference that a really good quality essential oil would make. Like the difference between driving a Hyundai versus a Lamborghini, Young Living’s oils showed me how fast and effective this gift of nature really can be, when it comes to transforming human challenges. 

In the words of Dr. Wayne Dyer, “Young Living is a company founded on miracles, teaching the world that there’s a better way through God’s bottles of essential oils.”

So true! So last Saturday I landed into Los Angeles airport. I was on my way to Salt Lake City to attend Young Living’s 30th birthday celebration at their International Grand Convention, when I found myself in a very challenging situation.

All I can say is “Thank goodness for my essential oils!” I love that I continue having “WOW!” experiences with them, even after so many years of using them. They never cease to amaze me!

Why Peppermint oil is a “must” for your pocket or handbag

OK, let me paint the picture for you. I’d just disembarked from a 1 hour flight to Sydney, a 5 hour layover, then a 12 hour flight to Los Angeles. My body thought it was 4.30am.

When I arrived at the immigration queue in Los Angeles airport, I was greeted by a mass of people – more than I’ve ever seen there before. I entered the “Visitors” queue with a positive attitude, expecting that I’d move through the queue reasonably quickly. But what eventuated was something quite the opposite.

As I stood there, and stood there, moving a few steps, then stopping, then moving a few more steps, then stopping, my mind and body started fretting. With so many people in the room, it had become quite warm – probably around 26 degrees Celsius. Although I was wearing a light t-shirt on top, I still had my thermal tights on from the plane underneath my yoga tights, so I was starting to feel uncomfortably warm.

As 5 minutes became 10 minutes became 30 minutes, and I’d only moved through 3 or 4 of the 13 rows I needed to traverse to get to the front of the Immigration queue, I felt myself spiralling. I’m not great in large crowds, and I was starting to feel quite claustrophobic. 

“How am I going to do this?” I was thinking. I felt like I was screaming inside my skin – I wanted to move, I wanted to be out of the crowd and into fresh air, I wanted to be cooler, and lying in peace on a comfortable hotel bed.

It was then that I thought of my oils. What could I use to help? “Peppermint oil!” I suddenly thought. And that made sooooo much sense. Here’s why…. 

Overheating

Peppermint oil is amazing at cooling us down. In fact, a drop of Peppermint oil on the wrists often makes it feel like the temperature’s dropped by 5 degrees.

So out came my Peppermint oil, and a drop went on my wrist. And sure enough, within 30 seconds I stopped noticing that I was feeling hot. It had worked!

Then an intriguing thought came to me. Peppermint oil isn’t just cooling. Like so many of our oils, it has a lot of other qualities.

Driver Fatigue

I remembered a study that was done on drivers. They were given Peppermint oil to inhale during their drive. 

Not only did the Peppermint oil reduce driver fatigue, but the drivers who were inhaling Peppermint oil were “less frustrated, and perceived the drive to be shorter.” ¹

And do you know what? After that one drop of Peppermint oil, I stopped feeling irritated at the length of the queue and how slowly it was moving. My frustration was completely eliminated!

Office Mistakes

Instead, my mind became so beautifully alert, which is another quality of Peppermint oil.

In fact, in one study where Peppermint oil was diffused in an office, it produced a 28% increase in mental accuracy, a 35% increase in typing speed, and a 7% increase in typing accuracy.²

The Peppermint oil produced such an arousal of attention that participants were able to stay focused on their task, even if that task was repetitive and tedious.³

Standing in a 1.2km long queue

In my case, this mental arousal led to me becoming intrigued by the statistics of the queue that I was in.

I know, I geek out on Science! I could have been daydreaming about a gorgeous guy or a sunrise in Byron Bay, but instead I was in Science curiosity mode.

I was already envisaging writing today’s bulletin about how great Peppermint oil was making me feel, so I started doing the maths.

There were 13 rows that we had to traverse on this day to reach the front of the Immigration queue. Each row was 95 metres in length (according to my strides), and each row contained 95 people (and their bags)….yes, I counted.

That means our queue was over 1.2 km in length, with over 1,200 people in it. Wow! That’s a hell of a queue to be standing in after an international flight….and it was a queue that was about to take me 100 minutes to work my way through. 

But the great news was that I no longer cared. I can only put that down to the Peppermint oil. And any irritation I had been feeling about the length of the queue, and how unfair it was that I should have to endure this after my long-haul flight also completely disappeared. That’s also not surprising, when you read about this next experiment….

Driver Aggression

According to a 2023 study published in Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical & Experiment, the aroma of Peppermint essential oil could help to reduce aggressive driving behaviours.⁴ WOW!!! In this study, fifty volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two groups. 

Both groups were put through a driving simulation that involved some calm driving time to let them get used to the simulation, followed by 15 minutes of “aggressive driving behaviours” such as having other drivers abruptly brake in front of them without apparent reason, or cut into their lane without indicating.

For every participant, a total of 35 of these frustrating events occurred randomly in that 15 minutes.

The only difference was that one group was exposed to Peppermint oil aroma while they drove in the simulator, whereas the other group had no aroma.

The results showed the Peppermint aroma significantly reduced aggressive driving behaviours. In fact, the scientists concluded that, “Applying peppermint into daily driving may be beneficial for reducing driver aggression.”

Don’t you just love it when you have a miraculous experience with an oil? To me, the icing on the cake is when Science catches on to what we already know (ie. therapeutic-grade essential oils like those from Young Living really do work!), and then comes up with the evidence to support the experience.

References:

1. Raudenbush et al. North American Journal. of Psychology. 2009; 11(2)
2. W. Dember et al. Compendium of Olfactory Research. 1996
3. Barker et al. Perception & Motor Skills. 2003; 97: 1007-1010
4. Moss et al. Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, March 2023; 38(2)

Want to add Peppermint to your toolkit? Here’s how…

If you already have your own wholesale account with Young Living, you can order now through the shopping cart on your virtual office, or via phone or live chat with your local Young Living office.

If it’s been more than 12 months since you’ve ordered, or if you’ve never set up an account, please reach out to the person who introduced you to Young Living.

You will need their member number when you place your first order.

If you have lost touch with them, or need any other assistance, we are here to help. Simply click the button below and we’ll be in touch to assist you and help answer your questions.