Rose Oil May Heal Heart Disease, Cancer, And Depression

Roses symbolize love, but could their connection with the heart be more than a sentimental Valentine’s Day tradition? Medical researchers and practitioners are rediscovering and demonstrating what traditional medicine has known for centuries — that rose heals.

Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties help with cancer and heart disease, it soothes digestion, and it’s been shown to reduce anxiety and lift depression. The traditional affinity with women may be more than just wive’s tales, too, as it helps ease menstrual issues. And the rose’s beauty translates to its power to heal skin problems such as rosacea.

The medical applications of rose essential oil, rose petal tea, and rose hips reveal the secret of the connection between emotions, loss, self-love, and how diseases manifest in the body. The most obvious link between mind and body, and rose’s healing power, begins with depression.

Calming Anxiety, Lifting Depression

A 2009 study looked at how rose (Rosa damascena) essential oil affects mood. Forty volunteers put on breathing masks so they couldn’t smell anything. They were split into a placebo group and a rose oil group, and researchers measured blood pressure, breathing rate, blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, and skin temperature. Even without smelling the oil, those that were exposed to rose showed decreases in all the parameters, and reported feeling more calm, alert, and relaxed than the placebo group.

Some studies have even reported that rose oil helps lab rats relax! You can use rose essential oil to help achieve balance in skin, digestion, and mind. Rose is rejuvenative, restorative, and relaxing. A perfume or essential oil calms emotions. Rose can be balancing for everybody, especially with heat.

The Indian medical system called Ayurveda classifies the world into three elements: earth, air, and fire. “Rose is calming and cooling. “It can be good for almost anyone, but especially people with a lot of fire — a hot head.”

Studies of rose’s chemical compositions and their effects confirm that the flower’s scent calms anxiety and may alleviate headaches. Considering its effect on anxiety and depression, people suffering from tension headaches may want to consider inhaling rose essential oil for relief. Or spritzing their faces with rose water. Or adding food-grade rose water to confections.

Living in the moment helps anxiety, but our rapid-paced world often keeps us away from the now. We live in such a hot time, it’s good to cool down and stop and smell the roses.