Description
Lemongrass is a tropical, grassy plant used in cooking and herbal medicine. Extracted from the leaves and stalks of the lemongrass plant, lemongrass oil has a powerful, citrus scent. It’s often found in soaps and other personal care products.
Lemongrass oil can be extracted, and it’s been used by healthcare providers to treat digestive problems and high blood pressure. It has many other potential health benefits, too.
In fact, lemongrass essential oil is a popular tool in aromatherapy to help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. Keep reading to learn more about how you can use lemongrass essential oil to improve your well-being.
Research shows that lemongrass essential oil may well be one of the best essential oils to use against HSV-1 infection (herpes).
Here are some other benefits of lemongrass essential oil:
- It has antibacterial properties
Lemongrass is used as a natural remedy to heal wounds and help prevent infection and is effective against a variety of drug-resistant bacteria, including those that cause:
skin infections
pneumonia
blood infections
serious intestinal infections
- It has antifungal properties
Fungi are organisms like yeast and mold. Lemongrass oil is an effective deterrent against four types of fungi. One type causes athlete’s foot, ringworm, and jock itch.
- It has anti-inflammatory properties
Chronic inflammation is thought to cause many health problems, including arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer. Lemongrass contains citral, an anti-inflammatory compound.
- It has antioxidant properties
Antioxidants help your body fight off free radicals that damage cells. Research has shown that lemongrass essential oil helps hunt free radicals.
- It may help prevent gastric ulcers or relieve nausea
Lemongrass is used as a folk remedy for a number of digestive problems, ranging from stomachaches to gastric ulcers. Lemongrass is also a common ingredient in herbal teas and supplements for nausea. Although most herbal products use dried lemongrass leaves, using the essential oil for aromatherapy provides similar benefits.
- It may help ease diarrhea
Diarrhea is often just a bother, but it can also cause dehydration. Over-the-counter diarrhea remedies can come with unpleasant side effects like constipation, leading some people to turn to natural remedies. Lemongrass may help slow diarrhea, possibly by slowing intestinal motility.
- It may help reduce cholesterol
High cholesterol may increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. It’s important to keep your cholesterol levels stable. Lemongrass is traditionally used to treat high cholesterol and manage heart disease.
- It may help regulate blood sugar and lipids
Lemongrass oil may help reduce blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, by lowering blood sugar levels and changing lipid parameters while increasing HDL (good) cholesterol levels.
- It may act as a pain reliever
The citral in lemongrass essential oil may help ease pain as it relieves inflammation. For people with rheumatoid arthritis, topical lemongrass oil decreased their arthritis pain.
- It may help relieve stress and anxiety
High blood pressure is a common side effect of stress. Many studies have shown that aromatherapy eases stress and anxiety. Combining aromatherapy with massage may bring greater benefits.
- It may help relieve headaches and migraine
Lemongrass may relieve pain caused by headaches and migraine, as a compound in lemongrass called eugenol has similar abilities to aspirin. Eugenol is thought to prevent blood platelets from clumping together. It also releases serotonin. Serotonin is a hormone that regulates mood, sleep, appetite, and cognitive functions.
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