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The Melatonin Hypothesis

Some studies have shown a possible decreased release of melatonin in the brain among people who use a mobile phone for more than 25 minutes a day. Reduced melatonin could explain why some studies have shown a relationship with sleep disturbance and cell-phone use. But melatonin is also a free-radical scavenger and an anti-oxidant and this could also link cell phone use with cancer and other types of cellular damage. One study of electrical workers observed a link between reduced melatonin and an increase in a type of protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Burch J, Reif J, Noonan C, et al., “Melatonin metabolite excretion among cellular telephone users,” International  Journal of Radiation Biology 78: 1029–1036 (2002); Noonan C, Reif J, Burch J, et al, “Relationship between amyloid beta protein and melatonin metabolite in a study of electric utility workers,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 44: 769–775 (2002).

Dan Kenner, Ph.D, L. Ac. writes a quarterly column for Health Freedom News called Health Bits and Pieces.

Melatonin Extra (60 caps)  Stock #2830-4 

(Ingredients: 3 mg melatonin, 30 IU vitamin E, ginkgo leaf and leaf extract, and eleuthero root)

21 Awesome Ways to Use Essential Oils to Freshen and Clean

You know that essential oils have calming and healing effects, but did you know they can be used for cleaning too?21 Awesome Ways to Use Essential Oils to Freshen and Clean | Nature's Sunshine Products

Using essential oils around your home is a natural way to freshen and clean your living space. Whether you are finishing up your spring cleaning or preparing for summer barbecues, these essential oil tricks will prepare you for anything. Here are a few unique ways you can use essential oils to freshen up your life!

  1. Keep Pests at Bay

Keep spiders and rodents at bay with peppermint essential oil. These creepy critters can’t stand peppermint! Add 10-15 drops of the essential oil to a spray bottle with water and spray in the cracks and gaps where spiders and rodents enter your home. For extra protection, add one or two drops of peppermint oil to a cotton ball and leave it in common entrance places, such as doorways and basements.

  1. Keep Fruit Fresh

To keep your fruit fresh, wash fruit in a bowl of cool water with two to six drops of lemon essential oil. Stir the fruit in the bowl and leave it long enough for the food to pick up the essential oils. This will help increase the shelf life of your fruit, leaving it bright and ripe for a few extra days.

  1. Eliminate Shower Curtain Scum

Essential oils can be used to get rid of shower curtain scum. Use a spray bottle filled with warm water, four drops of eucalyptus essential oil and four drops of tea tree oil (melaleuca). Spray this mixture onto your shower curtain for cleaning and then onto your tub. Leave the mixture to help fight mold when the curtain is back in place.

  1. Freshen Your Home

To freshen the air in your home, use essential oils in your air filters. Every time you change your filters, add a few drops of your favorite essential oils before replacing them. Essential oils kill microbes in your ducts and will leave a pleasant scent throughout the house. Use cinnamon essential oil to clean the air with its anti-microbial properties or diffuse clove, rosemary or orange essential oils when guests come over to blow them away with your home’s fresh scent.

  1. Freshen Your Fridge

When cleaning out your fridge or freezer, use lime, grapefruit or lemongrass essential oils in your final rinse. It will leave your refrigerator with a refreshing scent and help to neutralize any mold that might be creeping into your fridge.

  1. Freshen Your Car

Keep your car smelling fresh with essential oils. The scents of essential oils are subtle and are easy to refill, making them the perfect car freshener. Try using an essential oil car diffuser to keep the scent longer and from overpowering your vehicle. Use lavender oil to relieve tension or rose oil to boost your mood on the way to work.

  1. Stay Safe in the Sun

You can create your own homemade, toxic-free sunscreen using essential oils. Mix coconut oil, zinc oxide, shea butter, helichrysum oil and lavender essential oil in a bottle and store for summer. This natural sunscreen will help protect your skin from damage at the park or neighborhood barbecue.

  1. Sleep Tight

To help you and your loved ones sleep better, place a few drops of lavender essential oil on a blanket or pillow, or add a few drops to a spray bottle with water and use it to freshen your sheets when making the bed. Keep the bottle with you on vacation and spray your hotel room to kill microbes and deodorize the room.

  1. Scour Dirty Pans

Clean out burnt pans with lemon essential oil. Boil water in the dirty pot or pan and add a few drops of lemon oil to remove burnt residue or stuck foods. You can also add a few drops of lemon oil to the dishwasher soap compartment before washing to leave your dishes spot-free.

  1. Freshen Your Gym Bag

Keep germs out of your gym bag with essential oils. Fill a spray bottle with water and a drop of tea tree and lavender essential oils to refresh your bag, shoes and yoga mat after a day at the gym. For smelly shoes, pick your favorite essential oil and put two drops on a cotton ball. Place a cotton ball in each shoe to find them refreshed in the morning.

  1. Control Flies

Open windows and outdoor cooking are some of the great perks of summer. But, these activities can attract pesky flies that ruin dinners. To create a barrier against flies at your next cookout, mix 25 drops of peppermint or lavender essential oils with water in a spray bottle. Use the mixture on windows, doors and dining tables. Make sure to shake well before use.

  1. Eliminate the Smell of Smoke

If you smoke or live next to someone who does, you can easily eliminate the smell of cigarette smoke with a few drops of essential oils. Put four drops of rosemary, tea tree and eucalyptus essential oils in a spray bottle and spray near your patio or in your car to neutralize odors.

  1. Preserve Your Leather

To preserve leather jackets, sofas and shoes, use essential oils to clean them. Soak a cloth in lemon essential oil and wipe down leather items. This will help keep the material from splitting and preserve the color.

  1. Scour the Sink

You can create an all-natural kitchen sink scrub to make your sink shine without using harmful chemicals. Make the mix using half a cup of baking soda, one-third cup of vinegar, and five drops of bergamot and lime essential oils. Use this mixture to scrub the sink and then rinse with warm water. Your kitchen sink will shine like new!

  1. Freshen Your Home While Vacuuming

Use your favorite essential oils when vacuuming to leave a fresh scent after cleaning. Add a cotton ball with a few drops of peppermint, spearmint or pine essential oils to your vacuum cleaner bag or collector cup for a refreshing scent. If you have dogs, use geranium essential oil to clear your carpets of canine smells.

  1. Freshen the Bathroom

Make your own bathroom freshener with natural essential oils. To neutralize unpleasing scents and freshen up your bathroom, apply a few drops of citrus, rose or lavender essential oils to a cotton ball and place it behind the toilet.

  1. Reduce Mold

Eliminate mold in your home with an essential oil diffuser. Fill it with fungus-fighting tea tree oil or anti-microbial cinnamon essential oils. For a more direct mold defense, mix tea tree oil with grapefruit seed extract and vinegar. The grapefruit seed helps to neutralize the smell of the vinegar while all three ingredients work together to stop mold in its tracks.

  1. Make Powerful Solvent

You can create a powerful solvent with lemon or wild orange essential oils. Use a few drops to remove price stickers, get gum out of the carpet, or clean sap off gardening tools. For eliminating tough gunk, leave the essential oils for a few minutes before removing.

  1. Camp in Peace

Make camping and backyard fires a breeze with natural mosquito repellent. Protect yourself and your s’mores from mosquitoes with an essential oil bug spray made of one drop of lemongrass, citronella and eucalyptus essential oils mixed with one teaspoon of coconut oil. Rub the mixture on exposed skin for protection all night long.

  1. Keep Fishy Smells Away

Does your kitchen smell of fish or onions after cooking? Get rid of unwanted kitchen smells by adding a few drops of clove, cinnamon or any citrus essential oils to a simmering pan of water. You’ll be able to cook a delicious fish dinner without worrying about the smell taking over your kitchen.

  1. Freshen Your Linens and Clothes

For cozy towels, sheets and clothes, add five drops of rose essential oil to water and pour it into the center cup of your washer. Finish the laundry by soaking a small piece of terry cloth in lavender, rose or ylang ylang essential oils and tossing it into the dryer. If you are looking to get rid of mites, use eucalyptus to clean your linens and clothes. These essential oils will leave your clothes feeling soft and smelling fresher than ever.
Conclusion: Essential oils are one of the most useful natural tools for home remedies and fresh cleaning supplies. Get the most out of your oils with 100 percent natural products from Nature’s Sunshine’s authentic oils. Nature’s Sunshine promises the oils will be the highest quality and made authentically, so you know you’re getting the most out of your essential oils.

What Are Essential Oils?

Source: herbs-info.com

By definition, an essential oil is “a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants.” [1] Essential oils are the concentrated essences (hence the name) derived from herbs and spices. The volatile aromatic compounds give them their inherent aroma, as well as their intrinsic medicinal properties. Essential oils may be derived by various methods – including distillation of various kinds.

Contrary to popular belief, essential oils are not synthetic substances that are employed to add scent to an item. While there are synthetic oils that imitate the scent of true essential oils, these typically do not possess the potent properties inherent in authentic essential oils and are typically considered inferior with regard to any therapeutic benefits. Synthetic imitations are considered potentially hazardous if employed therapeutically, making it doubly important to discern which ‘essential oils’ found in the market are real and which ones only boast of the name.

The use of essential oils has existed since time immemorial, although due to the restrictions of available technology, obtaining essential oils in olden days was in some cases very laborious, and the resulting products often very costly.

What are essential oils used for?

Essential oils are used for a wide array of different things, although the earliest and most common use of essential oils was as a type of perfume. Essential oils are very potent, and in many cases mildly to severely allergenic, and as such, it has to be diluted with a carrier oil. Once a major commodity in the perfume industry essential oils were blended with base oils and other essential oils to make enticing perfumes.

In the medical world, essential oils were employed chiefly as an addition to salves, balms, creams, butters, and oils since its concentrated nature allowed it to be effectively used as a substitute for copious amounts of fresh or dried herbs. Because essential oils are technically speaking the essence or active compound of an herb, it therefore possessed the most potent healing capacity – making even minute amounts of the oil integrated into a medicated salve, oil, or balm equivalent to macerating or infusing a large amount of herbs.

The most common use for essential oils nowadays is as a therapeutic substance employed for aromatherapy. While this is nevertheless in the line of perfumery, the demand for essential oils used solely for the purpose of aromatherapy, regardless of the chosen medium of use, has made it among the most popular commodities in the alternative medicine area. Totaling its many uses, essential oils have been employed in the creation of everything from perfumes, oils, candles, soaps, medicines, and nearly every possible cosmetic commodity. Due to this astounding demand, synthetic essential oils have been created to help meet the requirement for scents, making it cheaper and more affordable for the masses. However, as a rule of thumb, whenever you intend to use essential oils for medicinal purposes, always choose organic, certified pure essential oils.

What are essential oils made of?

Essential oils are really a cocktail of volatile substances and essences that comprise its body, its aroma, and even its medicinal actions. The composition of an essential oil varies depending upon its source plant, as well as the method of extraction employed to obtain the oil.

How are essential oils made?

Essential oils are present in nearly every organic herb or spice in the world, with some possessing far more concentrated or medically viable amounts than others. The making of essential oils have come a long way from often primitive methods that involved slow and time-consuming infusion, maceration, or enfleurage (the practice of placing herbal matter in tallow or beeswax to extract its essences; commonly employed in traditional perfumery).

In modern times, various methods are used to extract essential oils, depending on which plant is being extracted, scale of operations and budget. With the advent of technology, the extraction of essential oils from herbs and spices has become a science, especially with the introduction of CO2 extraction, steam distillation (the most commonly employed means of extracting essential oils) and cold pressing (more often performed to extract oils from seeds and bark, more so than in leaves or petals). Still more methods of extracting essential oils exist, although the most common means that yields the most essential oils is steam distillation. See our full article: How To Make Essential Oils

References:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil