lavender
In addition to its many beneficial properties, adding lavender to your lemonade could help with that headache. Lavender is used in aromatherapy as a natural painkiller and anxiety reliever. Hans Braxmeier / Pixabay

Lemonade is one of the easiest beverages to make at home. They make for a great way to beat the heat on hot days and help you feel refreshed. While lemonade by itself is a great drink, adding lavender to lemonade could be even better.

lemonade
Plain lemonade is good by itself. It’s packed with nutrients such as vitamin C and boosts your immunity system. Jill Wellington / Pixabay

In addition to having a soothing and pleasant smell, lavender’s chemical structure is also very complex and has over 150 constituents. Lavender has also been proven to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antiseptic, analgesic, antibacterial, antidepressant, detoxifier, hypotensive, sedative, and antispasmodic properties.

Studies also show that lavender oil efficiently relieved general anxiety disorder symptoms after performing a six-week trial and had nearly the same effect as standard anxiety drug, Lorazepam. The study showed that when taken once a day, the lavender oil helped with disturbed sleep, agitation, restlessness and anxiety disorders.

That’s not to say that lemonade doesn’t have it’s own benefits. The drink offers therapeutic benefits thanks to its fruity contents. It is packed with nutrients such as vitamin C, and lemons themselves boost your immunity system. It is also citrus-based and in aromatherapy, these are known to act as antidepressants and could also help improve your concentration.

When you mix the two together, you get a drink that relieves anxiety, headaches, and insomnia. According to research done by Jeremy Appleton, a naturopathic physician, the scent of lavender could help change how we perceive pain. The research indicated that the scent of lavender helps us to better tolerate pain like headaches. This soothing drink not only cools you down, it also relieves anxiety, cures headaches, and helps with insomnia.

Here’s how to make this stress-relieving, pain-relieving drink:

  • 1 cup of raw honey or 3-4 cups of sugar
  • 12 cups of water
  • Juice of 6 lemons
  • 1 drop of lavender essential oil (can be found at health food stores)
  • Lavender sprigs for garnishing

Combine the ingredients and chill. If you prefer your lavender lemonade sweeter, simply add more honey.

For those worried about ingesting the lavender essential oil, there is no need to be. Though most essential oils have a label indicating they are for external use only, this is simply a precaution as they are highly concentrated and thus, very strong. Most essential oils are actually safe for consumption in very small quantities, so it is imperative that you don’t use more than a drop.

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