Aromatherapy Supporting ADHD and Autism

I first qualified as an aromatherapist in 2004 with a Diploma in Aromatherapy and Essential Oil Science with Neal's Yard Remedies. It was such a pleasure to study in Neal's Yard in London. The course was super challenging with the anatomy and physiology as well as understanding the chemistry of the oils and their clinical uses. But we had such a marvellous teacher who would layer the therapeutic and historical uses of the oils on top of the science. This was so helpful for me and my learning approach.

In my practice, which I did part time along side a corporate job until our child was born, I found that the therapeutic approach was so effective for supporting clients physical and emotional needs.

It seems to be more widely accepted now that our mental well-being directly affects our physical well being. Even when living with chronic conditions. Mental out look has a huge impact on how we experience the world physically and how connected we are to the bodies we are in.

After our child was born I didn't use oils in our home for the first three months as the oils effect hormones and I think I only had a diffuser with chamomile in during the teething phase. Our child was born with a lung infection and struggled with repeated infections the first few years of life. We supported that with traditional pharmaceutical prescriptions. But when steroids were prescribed for bedtime or being told to sit in a hot steaming room with a very active child I went back to essential oils. They were so amazing not only on the infection but also sleep! I couldn't believe how effective in particular on repeated infections and how much quicker they cleared up.

As I said I didn't even have oils in a diffuser for the first three months as there are so many hormones for growth and development that I was taught to be super safe and not use any oils at all. However from three months onwards it is safe to use chamomile, neroli and lavender essential oils. And as always less is more.

So the night light became the essential oil diffuser and as our child got older they decided they wanted to choose oils. The now go to favourite – which I wouldn't have chosen – are peppermint, chamomile and sometimes frankincense or cinnamon!

Here's what some of the therapeutic are for those oils, there are more for each one but I am sharing here the key reasons I think they are so helpful for all of us who have ADHD and are autistic:-

Chamomile – calming and sedative effect on the nervous system and helps to relieve irritability and insomnia. It is also excellent in anti-inflammatory relief

Cinnamon – this is my personal favourite spice – I have it sprinkled in every cup of coffee I have! In terms of essential is great for gut health and has anti-inflammatory properties and helps to strengthen adrenal glands – essentially build you up.

Frankinsense – it's to calming on the nervous system. It is both calming and uplifting and helps with anxiety and depression. It really does have a very grounding effect, kind of stills us.

Neroli – is just lovely but one have used much less recently, much more pre and early primary school years. It has a calming effect on the nervous system and really helps people who are beyond exhausted with a lift. For our child this was just magical with chamomile. So calming.

Peppermint – although it is well known to help with any digestive problems it is also very good for respitory problems.

These are the oils we have used the most consistently as a family. We haven't really used lavender which is super popular but we do use the Method Lavender multi purpose cleaner, lavender scented hand soap and the Dettol lavender fabric cleaner. So we do have a lot around our home.

I see as I'm writing up the key therapeutics for us as a family there is a common thread of calm, digestion and anti-inflammatory.

Your essential oil diffuser may not be the thing you have thought of for creating calm outside bed time but I have found having it on the days we are home it really helps set a calming environment which is also some how grounding.

Yes I am biased but I highly recommend if you are thinking of trying oils to get to your nearest Neal's Yard shop and just smell the oils – use the lids to smell them. And just see which you and your child take to. As I say I never blended pepper mint with chamomile but our child was drawn to them. You do need to be careful though with children and I will seek out and pop a link here a list of child safe oils.

I am so thrilled to be returning to professional practice next year and it is such a pleasure to be bringing out all my books as I embark on the return to practice course. I've added a section here on our website to highlight this. And will work out with the venue how I do the bookings once I have the place secured.

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