The health benefits of Angelica Essential Oil can be attributed to its properties like anti spasmodic, carminative, depurative, diaphoretic, digestive, diuretic, hepatic, emenagogue, expectorant, febrifuge, nervine, stimulant, stomachic and tonic.
Before we proceed to the medicinal properties of Angelic, let me tell you that it is also widely used as a flavouring agent in the food & beverage industries, due to its sweet, spicy aroma. Angelica, botanically known as Angelica Archangelica or Angelica Officinalis, is believed to be basically an African herb which made its way into Europe in the 16th Century, to gain tremendous popularity as a treatment for Plague which was a frequent and dreaded visitor of Europe in those days. It thrived well in Europe and later its other medicinal properties were discovered. The medicinal properties of Angelica come mainly from its essential oil which is composed of constituents like alpha pinene, camphene, beta pinene, sabinene, alpha phellandrene, bornyl acetate, beta phellandrene, beta bisabolene, copaene, cryptone, cis ocimene, humulene oxide, limonene, myrcene, pentadecanolide, para cymene, rho cymenol, trans ocimene, terpinolene, terpinenol and tridecanolide and is extracted through steam distillation of its rhizome (root nodules), seeds and the whole herb.
Now, let us get ourselves acquainted with some of its renowned medicinal properties before we actually use it.
- Anti Spasmodic: Where there is spasm, there are cramps, coughs, aches, diarrhea and nervous afflictions and convulsions. What actually is spasm? It is involuntary and out of the way contraction in the respiratory tracts, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and internal organs resulting in severe coughs, cramps, convulsions, obstructed blood circulations, aches in stomach and chest and other symptoms. The only way out is to induce relaxations in the affected parts which this Essential Oil of Angelica is capable of doing. This oil clears spasm and gives relief from the painful symptoms discussed above.
- Carminative: This relaxing effect of Angelica Oil is beneficial in driving out gas from the intestines too. This relaxes the intestinal and the abdominal muscles and lets the gases pass with a downward passage. This gives an immense relief from troubles related with gas, such as indigestion, stomachaches, headaches, cramps, flatulence, nausea, rise in the blood pressure etc.
- Depurative: Depurative means an agent that purifies blood. The Essential Oil of Angelica does this with great efficiency. It is diuretic (promotes urination) and diaphoretic (promotes sweating) and thus it speeds up removal of toxins like uric acid and others, excess salt and water, fat & bile etc. from the body through urine and sweat, thus giving relief from ailments associated with their accumulation. Thus, it also lowers blood pressure and reduces fat (protecting your heart) apart from giving relief from troubles like rheumatism, arthritis, gout, renal calculi etc.
- Diaphoretic: Sweat may be the cause of annoyance for the majority of us, but believe me, it is one of the most beneficial things for health. This is natural method for removal of toxins and waste products from the body. Sweat is not just saline and foul smelling water. Apart from water and salts like sodium chloride, magnesium chloride etc., sweat also contains sebum, fats, uric acid, bile and other toxic elements which are not welcome in our body. So, sweat performs this important task of disposing them off our body. This helps lower potassium content in the blood and thereby reduction in the blood pressure, lower fat content and decrease weight, remove uric acid and other toxins and give relief from rheumatism and arthritis etc.
- Digestive: Angelica Essential Oil also promotes digestion by stimulating secretion of digestive juices like acids and bile into the stomach. It also promotes proper movement of the food through the intestines and absorption of the digested food by intestinal villi.
- Diuretic: This property may be bliss for those suffering from chronic renal failure and accumulation of water in the body or those who are suffering from renal calculi, overweight, hypertension and symptoms associated with accumulation of toxins in the body, such as rheumatism, arthritis and gout. Being a diuretic, Angelica Essential Oil increases frequency and quantity of urination which helps remove excess water, salts, fat (urine contains fats up to 4% of the total urine) and toxins like uric acid. This gives effective protection from the symptoms discussed above.
- Hepatic: The Essential Oil of Angelica gives a good protection to liver and makes it function well by stimulating secretions from the liver. It also protects liver from infections and helps heal wounds in it, if any.
- Emenagogue: This oil also trigger opens the obstructed menstruations and makes them regular. As bonus, one gets relief from the other symptoms associated with periods such as headache, abdominal cramp, nausea, vomiting, fatigue etc.
- Expectorant: Being an expectorant, the Essential Oil of Angelica clears accumulation of phlegm in the respiratory tracts and also fights the infection causing cold, thereby giving relief from cough, cold, sinusitis, congestion in the lungs etc.
- Febrifuge: This essential oil is also capable of reducing fever by fighting the infections causing fever. The diaphoretic and the diuretic properties of this oil also contribute to this effect, since removal of toxins and wastes from the body speeds up recovery from infections and perspiration helps reduce fever.
- Nervine: This oil acts as a tonic for the nerves. It is effective in treating nervous afflictions and disorders and in strengthening nerves. This, being a relaxant and a stimulant at the same time, sedates the nerves afflictions and relaxes them in cases of shock, hyper-reactivity etc. as well as stimulates them to make us more active and alert.
- Relaxant: This oil has a relaxing effect on the body, the mind and the nervous system. This becomes particularly beneficial in situations of shock, depression, anxiety, anger, hypertension etc.
- Stimulant: In contrary to its behaviour as a relaxant, it is a stimulant for the systems functioning inside the body. It stimulates blood circulation, secretion of hormones, enzymes and other juices and also stimulates metabolic processes including digestion & absorption and excretion. This way, in total, it stimulates growth.
- Stomachic: The simplest sentence that can best describe its stomachic property is that it is good for stomach. It maintains stomach in a good shape by maintaining proper balance of acids and bile in it and by protecting it from infections. It also helps heal any sort of wound or ulcer in the stomach.
- Tonic: This oil promotes all round development of health, boosts growth and strengthens immune system of the body.
- Other Benefits: It is good for the lymphatic system and provides effective treatment for bronchitis, asthma, sciatica, headache, infections, anorexia, anaemia, psoriasis etc.
Few Words of Caution: It should be avoided during pregnancy and by diabetics. It can cause skin irritation in higher concentrations and also photo toxicity. It higher dosages, it can cause excessive stimulation or hyper activity of the nervous system.
Blending: The Essential Oil of Angelica blends fine with the basil, chamomile, geranium, grapefruit, lavender, lemon, mandarin and patchouli essential oils.
This article was contributed by Aparup Mukherjee
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