Overall lifestyle shifts are more effective in the long term for anxiety, but sometimes our mental health needs support RIGHT NOW. I’ll share what I know from 15 years of practice, and amazing functional medicine practitioners and naturopaths that have informed the approach I use.
Pretty much everybody knows about lavender oil as a nice scent that’s relaxing in a diffuser or a body oil. Did you know it has also had a powerful use within the body to support mental health?
Our patients have always come in with anxiety complaints, but it’s never come up more than in the last 2+ years of Covid. Fear of the future, social isolation, plus economic and political anxiety have been a relentless constant pressure. It seems inescapable.
But, in fact, there are a lot of ways to gain back agency over your anxiety. There is no one magic bullet - for anyone - and they all require some amount of dedication. I’m going to start with a very easy one here:
Lavela WS 1265, encapsulated lavender oil, taken orally.
Most people don’t want to immediately jump to pharmaceuticals (and their side effects) for anxiety. But after months to years of suffering with no abatement, desperation for relief understandably starts to build. Here is one way to alleviate symptoms without going immediately to pharmaceuticals as the first intervention.
There have been studies for well over a decade about encapsulated lavender oil (known as Silexan in studies) and it’s effects on anxiety. The results have been very positive. More recently, studies have also shown improvements in depressive symptoms. You can read more details in the studies themselves, listed below.
Please note, I am not recommending people avoiding meds if you are at a dangerous point with your anxiety, especially if there is a major depression component. Conventional medicine has it’s limitations, especially with chronic conditions. But with emergencies? It can be lifesaving. That includes mental health emergencies. Even if you don’t like the idea of being on meds or hate the side effects, they can be extremely effective in stabilizing people that are in crisis. Trying medication for anxiety and depression is not necessarily a life sentence. Talk to your medical practitioner, tell them your concerns and mental health goals, and make sure you are both on the same page.
Despite the fact that this has been well studied, without fail whenever I mention it to patients, they’ve never heard of it. I would love to see this change. It’s been an enormous help to me personally over the last ten years.
Encapsulated lavender oil comes in a small gel cap. It’s been tested in comparison with Ativan and performed just as well in providing anxiety relief, and with Paxil (an SSRI) where it performed less well but much better than placebo. So it may be a reasonable starting place for someone with mild to moderate anxiety who isn’t yet ready to try meds.
The makers of Lavela recommend a dose of 1 gel 2x daily for the best effect. But you can also take one as needed from time to time without committing to a daily regimen. It’s active in your body for about 5 hours. The side effect profile is incredibly low - mild stomach upset if you have a hard time tolerating oily things, and occasional lavender burps.
I specifically recommend Lavela WS 1265 because in my practice I’ve seen it perform better than other versions of lavender pills like Calm Aid. It’s a food grade oil from a reputable company, Integrative Therapeutics. You can purchase Lavela online here, https://amzn.to/36OYiho
Encapsulated lavender oil is a helpmeet. It doesn’t treat the root cause of your anxiety. You need to assess the role that other factors present - a few of which are poor diet, technology addiction (the news can be read once a day, seriously - unfollow news accounts on apps), poor sleep hygiene, lack of activity, and unnecessary social isolation.
“….our results demonstrate that silexan is as effective as lorazepam (Ativan) in adults with GAD (generalized anxiety disorder). The safety of silexan was also demonstrated. Since lavender oil showed no sedative effects in our study and has no potential for drug abuse, silexan appears to be an effective and well tolerated alternative to benzodiazepines for amelioration of generalised anxiety.”
—Woelk and Schlafke, 2009
Note: you CANNOT take this if you’re pregnant or nursing.
Resources:
Müller WE, Sillani G, Schuwald A, Friedland K. Pharmacological basis of the anxiolytic and antidepressant properties of Silexan®, an essential oil from the flowers of lavender. Neurochem Int. 2021 Feb;143:104899. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2020.104899. Epub 2020 Nov 9. PMID: 33181239.
Kasper S, Gastpar M, Müller WE, Volz HP, Möller HJ, Schläfke S, Dienel A. Lavender oil preparation Silexan is effective in generalized anxiety disorder--a randomized, double-blind comparison to placebo and paroxetine. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2014 Jun;17(6):859-69. doi: 10.1017/S1461145714000017. Epub 2014 Jan 23. PMID: 24456909.
Woelk H, Schläfke S. A multi-center, double-blind, randomised study of the Lavender oil preparation Silexan in comparison to Lorazepam for generalized anxiety disorder. Phytomedicine. 2010 Feb;17(2):94-9. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2009.10.006. Epub 2009 Dec 3. PMID: 19962288.
Kasper S, Gastpar M, Müller WE, Volz HP, Möller HJ, Schläfke S, Dienel A. Lavender oil preparation Silexan is effective in generalized anxiety disorder--a randomized, double-blind comparison to placebo and paroxetine. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2014 Jun;17(6):859-69. doi: 10.1017/S1461145714000017. Epub 2014 Jan 23. PMID: 24456909
Seifritz E, Möller HJ, Volz HP, Müller WE, Hopyan T, Wacker A, Schläfke S, Kasper S. No Abuse Potential of Silexan in Healthy Recreational Drug Users: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2021 Mar 17;24(3):171-180. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyaa064. PMID: 33300578; PMCID: PMC7968617.