When the weather changes, chills, colds and flus follow. Mums start seeing the runny noses come home from daycare and school. We hear the sniffling when our kids are trying to sleep overnight. We wonder what we can do to help them. Of course there are the usual essential oils that everyone thinks of when we talk about building the immune system and fighting colds and flus – Easy Air, On Guard, Rosemary and Lemon, among others. However, today I want to talk to you about the most common influence on our sicknesses and our immune system being strong enough to fight them off – that is STRESS.

How does stress relate to our immune system?

Stress is the single most powerful influence on how well our body can fight an invasion from bacteria or viruses. It is also one of most common triggers for our body to fail to protect us when we become sick. The reason for this is that when we are stressed our body naturally goes into what is called “fight or flight response mode” which is an automatic response still in our bodies from our caveman days when we were out hunting and our bodies had to be ready to respond to any threat (think a mammoth or a sabre-toothed tiger) the might want to eat us for lunch. Today when we are stressed our body is automatically in the mode of being prepared for whatever we’re worried about to attack us. However, we don’t live in that same world anymore. Today our stress is often a list of things we have to do running through our heads while we’re worried about how we’re going to fit everything into our day.

How can Adaptiv help with that?

Thankfully there is an essential oil – but you already knew that didn’t you? doTERRA has recently developed an amazing blend called Adaptiv – designed for just this purpose – to reduce the stress factor in our lives. They have shown us many ways that we can incorporate this oil into our lives as well. Hopefully you know me well enough to know that I also don’t believe one oil can simply solve all of your problems (or even just one problem) and it must be combined with some lifestyle strategies as well. Today we will focus on the Adaptiv oil blend and the accompanying strategies to help you reduce the stress in your life and consequently improve the strength of your immune system.

Adaptiv Capsules – take one of these each morning when you know you’re going to need some extra support for stress in your day or week.

Adaptiv Roll-on – keep this handy with you throughout the day to apply to your wrists or neck as needed or as stress triggers arise. I also recommend you simply sit and inhale deeply either from the top of the bottle directly or from your wrists after application.

Adaptiv oil blend – this could be used in a diffuser at work or if that’s not appropriate you can simply diffuse it at home while you’re preparing for work or add some to your favourite car diffuser for the drive to and from work each day.

Adaptiv Bath Oil – Add a capful of this amazing bath oil to a half full bath in the evening to release any lingering tension from your day. As an added bonus I would add some magnesium chloride flakes or Epsom salts to the bath when it’s filling up.

Adaptiv Tranquil Mist – before heading to bed for the night spray this onto your pillow to help your body drift off into a peaceful night’s sleep.

Now that these great products have helped you get through your day and enjoy a deep sleep overnight, your body has spent far less time in that ‘fight or flight mode’ and therefore has had extra energy to repair your cells, make new ones and fight off any bacteria or viruses trying to invade your body. Your immune system is at a high level of strength just because you’ve given it the rest that it needs.

If you’d like to work with me in more depth about the issue of stress or anything else that is worrying you, check out your options here.