Reset Your Limbic System

Your limbic system works to regulate your emotions and respond to physical, mental, and emotional threats in combination with your parasympathetic nervous system.

In fact, your limbic system is often referred to as the “emotional nervous system” as it helps you interpret sensory information and determine whether external stimuli are threatening or benign. If a threat is perceived, your limbic system will then prompt your nervous system to activate the “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system response.

Your limbic system is your “threat-detection & response” mechanism wired to respond to sensory information – especially the sense of smell – to help keep you safe.

To do so, it learns from past events to help protect you in the future. In this capacity, it can over-react on the side. For example, if you experienced significant psychological or emotional stress while exposed to certain environmental chemicals, a “conditioning effect” may take place in which the limbic system “wires in” an association between the chemicals and the stress response. Once a conditioning event has taken place, your limbic system can get stuck on high alert, and sensory stimuli get misclassified as threatening when they are actually benign. This leads to chronic elevation of the sympathetic stress response, which may contribute to health concerns.

Restoring proper function to the limbic system can help TURN OFF the alarm in your limbic system – in effect rebalancing inhibition and activation – and TURN ON your body’s self-healing mechanisms by regulating your “fight or flight” response, and regulating the freeze response

As your sense of smell is critical to your sense of safety and your olfactory bulb is physically located near your limbic system, essential oils can be a powerful tool to help restore the proper function of your limbic system.

What Does Your Limbic System Do?

The limbic system gathers and interprets information from the environment through sensory information and decides how your body should respond to external stimuli.

The limbic system is also involved in your response to stress, your emotional response to external events, and your involuntary protective mechanisms (like the “fight or flight” response). It is particularly active when you are under stress or feeling unsafe or threatened.

More specifically, sensory information is carried to the hypothalamus, which then acts like the “regulator” of hormone control, communicating to other parts of the body by sending signals to the pituitary/thyroid/adrenal glands and helping the body maintain homeostasis.

Interactions between the hypothalamus and the rest of the limbic system influence the autonomic nervous system — specifically the sympathetic nervous system fight-flight-response and other emotional hyperarousal responses, including anxiety and fear.

More specifically, your limbic system connects to the autonomic nervous system centers in your brainstem.

A stressor or memory of a negative event activates connections between your amygdala and your brainstem sympathetic centers that increase heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle responsiveness.

Your parasympathetic nervous system can help to dampen this physiologic response, functioning like a “vagal brake”.

The limbic system connections to your ANS strengthen or weaken depending upon the environment, stress, and other exposures. This can cause threat mechanisms to overfire and distort your interpretation of sensory information, which can contribute to dysfunction and neurological disorganization.

READ THIS NEXT: Limbic System Dysfunction

Symptoms of Limbic Dysfunction

Your limbic system can get “stuck” in a state of hypervigilance and over-reactivity where it categorizes non-threatening stimuli as threatening, triggering involuntary trauma patterns and contributing to distorted unconscious reactions, sensory perceptions and protective responses, including the following symptoms:

Unexplained Brain fog
Low energy or fatigue
Chronic joint and/or muscle pain
Heightened sensory perceptions, including smell, taste, light, sound, or electromagnetic sensitivities
Sensitive to food, chemicals (including perfumes, household cleaners, personal hygiene products, or other chemicals)
Inability to concentrate or focus
Anxiety and irritability or panic attacks
Mood swings
Depression
Hormone imbalance
Sleep-related issues
Increased sensitivities to foods, medications, or supplements
Headaches
Dwell on past negative events or expect negative outcomes
Short-term memory problems

Over time, this state of hyper arousal can reset your limbic system to a heightened state of arousal and anxiety, which leads to hyper-sensitization, weakens the immune, endocrine, and autonomic nervous systems, and negatively impact our ability to rest, digest, detoxify, and heal, stabilize our mood, and maintain motor and cognitive function.

In other words, Limbic System Impairment can sensitize the brain to a negative stress response and keep us stuck in a Sympathetic Dominant vicious cycle.

Essential Oils for the Limbic System

Inhaling essential oils is the fastest and most efficient way to create physiological or psychological balance in your limbic system.

This is because smell can access the limbic system of the brain to lower limbic system activation which then enables your body to enter the parasympathetic “rest, digest, and repair” state.

It’s interesting to note that the limbic system was originally called the rhinencephalon (meaning ‘smell brain’) because it was thought to primarily involve the sense of smell.

This is because your sense of smell is key to survival!

Smell is often the first warning of safety or danger. You smell food and water. You smell predator odor and fire.

As noted above, your sense of smell has direct anatomical and functional access to the amygdala in the limbic lobe of the brain which is physically located near the olfactory bulb.

In fact, on a physical level, only two synapses separate your amygdala from your olfactory nerve. No other sensory system has this kind of direct and intense contact with the neural substrates of your brain’s emotional control center. Your other four senses, including sound, sight, taste, and touch must travel to other regions of the brain first, before reaching your limbic system.

Smell travels through your olfactory system to your hypothalamus by way of your amygdala. When you smell an essential oil, it stimulates your hypothalamus to release hormones that trigger a rapid emotional response, directly impacting how you feel and how you function.

Your brain’s rapid response to smell-based stimuli like essential oils is best explained by research which estimates your sense of smell to be 10,000 times more acute than your other senses. Once registered, scent stimuli travel more quickly to the brain than do either sight or sound.

In particular, the chemical constituent Sesquiterpenes, found in high levels in essential oils such as Frankincense and Sandalwood, are thought to help to increase the oxygen in the limbic system which in turn “unlocks” the DNA and allows emotional baggage to be released from cellular memory

Shifting your focus by engaging your senses – such as your sense of smell – also helps distract you out of an internal state of distress, thereby lessening its intensity and the intensity of your responses to others. This allows you to feel safe and access more possibilities and options.

READ THIS NEXT: How Smell Stimulates Your Brain

Reset Your Limbic System with Essential Oils

Olfactory stimulation with essential oils can be used to reset the volume of threat perception and help calm the over-firing of your limbic system.

I am excited to share our NEW Limbic Reset blend that can be used in combination to help rewire neural circuits in your limbic system and calm an over-active stress response.

Limbic Reset™ contains the following combination of oils designed to calm threat arousal and send safety queues to help reset your limbic system and support healthy emotional regulation. Limbic Reset™ was specifically formulated with Helichrysum sandalwood and Melissa oils which are touted for brain function and known to cross the blood-brain barrier and assist in carrying oxygen to the limbic system.

Cedarwood

Cedarwood essential oil, extracted from the wood pieces of a cedar tree, has been found to possess anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antifungal, tonic, astringent, diuretic, and sedative therapeutic properties

Research carried out on rats confirmed the sedative effects of cedarwood oil. The research actually stunted the olfactory pathway (sense of smell) and still found an increase in relaxation from exposure to cedarwood oil and its chemical constituent cedrol, leading researchers to conclude that cedarwood demonstrated “sedative effects regardless of the animal species or the functional state of the autonomic nerves, suggesting the mechanism of action is via a pathway other than the olfactory system.”

There are several varieties of Cedarwood. This blend contains Himalayan Cedarwood (Cedrus deodara) which has been shown to reduce pain and inflammation in animal research. Other studies found that cedarwood inhibits the inflammatory leukotrienes that are responsible for the inflammation response (5-LOX), especially in relation to pain. Out of all of the Cedarwood species, the Himalayan cedarwood was the strongest 5-LOX inhibitor.

Frankincense

Sourced from the resin extract from Boswellia carterii trees grown in Somalia, Frankincense helps support anxiety, nervous tension, and stress-related conditions. It can help fortify the mind. One recent study on rats indicated that essential oil can help improve memory retention and sharpen the mind.

Frankincense contains compounds known as sesquiterpenes that are known to cross the blood-brain barrier and increase oxygen around receptor sites in the emotional centers of your brain, like your hypothalamus and amygdala, helping to calm anxiety. Sesquiterpenes are C15 carbon chains that do not contain oxygen molecules but seem to pull oxygen in. This is one reason that when essential oils that are high in sesquiterpenes are topically applied to the brain or inhaled through the nose, oxygen levels seem to increase.

Frankincense also contains terpenes, which are strongly anti-inflammatory and protective over healthy cells. Research suggests that frankincense oil can be used to improve memory and your ability to learn.

Helichrysum Italicum

Helichrysum essential oil possesses anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial properties.

Helichrysum™ helps improve focus by enhancing blood flow to the brain. Research has shown that helichrysum lowers inflammation in blood vessels along with blood pressure and also increases smooth muscle function to improve blood flow and carry more oxygen to the brain which helps improve brain function.

Research has found that Helichrysum lowers inflammation due to several mechanisms: inflammatory enzyme inhibition, free radical scavenging activity, and corticoid-like effects.

Lavender

Lavender essential oils help boost cognitive performance and concentration. More specifically, lavender oil helps calm anxiety to help enhance focus and concentration.

Research discovered that Lavender™ and linalool, a major constituent of Lavender™, were able to bind to the serotonin transporter which may have an inhibitory effect on serotonin reuptake. Limiting serotonin reuptake helps maintain proper serotonin activity, and proper serotonin activity promotes feelings of happiness and helps support important processes such as learning and memory.

Linalool has also been shown to modulate the transmission of GABA in your brain by activating GABA receptors, which helps to enhance the inhibitory tone of your brain, basically blocking brain signals that activate your stress response and calming your nervous system. A deficit of GABA contributes to anxiety and ADHD.

Research has found that GABA can improve focus and decrease ADHD symptoms. Additional research correlated lower levels of GABA with greater impulsivity and less inhibition.

Melissa

Also known as lemon balm, Melissa essential oil is known for its ability to induce calmness, reduce anxiety, and improve cognition. Melissa essential oil is also considered a nervine substance, or a tonic for the nervous system to keep it healthy, and functioning properly, and prevent nervous disorders. This property of melissa essential oil can be useful for health concerns like vertigo, nervousness, and convulsions.

Melissa essential oil also demonstrates antidepressant and sedative properties. A 2013 study found melissa essential oil helped improve anxiety, depression, neuroprotectivity, and cognition. This could be attributed to the principal constituent limonene which has been correlated with anti-depressant effects and shown to lower anxiety and stress. Scientists think its calming, mood-lifting effects come from limonene’s ability to elevate serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is an important hormone and neurotransmitter that helps induce feelings of joy and relaxation.

Another study demonstrated Melissa’s ability to directly affect the brain and neurotransmitters. “The results indicate that essential oils obtained from Melissa officinalis leaf and Citrus aurantifolia leaf showed high acetylcholinesterase (an enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of acetylcholine) co-inhibitory activities.” This means that Melissa inhibits the breakdown of acetylcholine, allowing this important neurotransmitter to perform its valuable cognitive functions for longer in the brain.

Acetylcholine plays a key role in memory, attention, and learning. Damage to the cholinergic (acetylcholine-producing) system in the brain and resulting acetylcholine deficits have been linked with the memory deficits associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Research has found that essential oils are some of the most effective tools to regenerate and heal these acetylcholine-producing systems.

READ THIS NEXT: Essential Oils for Memoryn

Sandalwood

Harvested from the roots of the sandalwood tree, Sandalwood is known for its sedative properties and its ability to promote positive thinking, mental clarity, concentration, and focus.

Calming anxiety helps to free up the prefrontal cortex to enhance focus and concentration.

Scientific research found sandalwood to be effective in reducing levels of anxiety and easing anxiety symptoms.

Sandalwood has been shown to promote mental clarity, which is one reason it is often used during meditation and spiritual rituals. One study found that sandalwood’s main compound, alpha-santalol, elevated alertness, attentiveness, calmness, mood, relaxation, and vigor.

Sandalwood also has anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce brain inflammation. Calming brain inflammation helps eliminate brain fatigue and enhance concentration and focus. Read More about calming brain inflammation HERE and HERE.

A 2014 study found that the active compounds in sandalwood can decrease inflammation markers in the body called cytokines. It is believed that these active compounds (santalols) act in a similar manner as ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that act by inhibiting these inflammatory markers. The “observed anti-inflammatory properties of topically applied Sandalwood oils provide a rationale for use in products requiring anti-inflammatory effects.”

Ylang Ylang

Ylang-ylang is a yellow, star-shaped flower that grows on the Cananga tree and is known to calm the mind and soothe the nervous system. It helps relieve mental fatigue, anxiety, and tension headaches and bring emotions into proper balance.

Research supports Ylang Ylang’s ability to increase blood flow, relieve inflammation, and calm anxiety to enhance focus. One study found that Ylang Ylang reduced anxiety and boosted self-esteem when it was either applied to the skin or inhaled.

Similar research explored the benefit of inhaling ylang-ylang essential oil to reduce blood pressure, improve cognitive functioning, and reduce anxiety. The research explored how the major active constituents of Ylang Ylang essential oil, including linalool, altered neurotransmitters related to mood after odor exposure. Research found that inhaling Ylang Ylang decreased dopamine concentration and increased the Serotonin precursor, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the brain.

How to Apply Limbic Reset

Limbic Reset can be topically applied over Emotional Points located on the forehead (above the eyes and on the temples), an emotional release point located at the base of the skull at the back of the neck, on the bottom of the feet, and especially on the amygdala reflex point on the big toe. You can also apply over Filter points located on both sides of the back of the skull which are used to filter energies that could pull you back into the old pattern.

My most exciting discovery is different acupressure points that assist in releasing emotional patterns.

An illustration of a person's face with short hair. Two arrows point to the forehead area between the eyebrows, labeled "EMOTIONAL POINTS.

Emotional Points located above the eyes on the forehead. You can also lay your hand over your forehead. I write more about the forehead points for healing emotional trauma HERE.

Release point is located at the spinal cord at the base of the skull

Filter points are located on both sides of the back of the skull. They are used to filter energies that could pull you back into the old pattern.

A simple line drawing of a human head shows three points labeled: "Anterior Fontanel" on the top of the head, "Filter Point" on the face near the mouth, and "Spinal Cord or Release Point" on the neck.

READ THIS NEXT: Releasing Emotional Patterns with Essential Oils

Identify Your Health Priority

What Does Your Limbic System Do?

Symptoms of Limbic Dysfunction

Essential Oils for the Limbic System