Wintergreen Essential Oil
Wintergreen is so much more than a flavoring for sweets. This amazing essential oil is great at relieving pain, preventing tooth decay, and increasing lung capacity. I apply this oil to both your feet and your back using two different reflexology techniques.
Wintergreen infographic
The Nerdy Stuff
Wintergreen’s Latin name is Gaultheria procumbens and it comes from the botanical family Ericaceae. It is native to North America and the essential oil is steam distilled from its leaves and bark.
Unlike our previous essential oils, which contain multiple key constituents, Wintergreen essential oil is almost exclusively made up of methyl salicylate. Methyl salicylate, when absorbed through the skin, is metabolized into salicylic acid (think “aspirin”). It has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fever properties.
Actions/Properties
As I shared in the video on Wintergreen, its leaves were chewed by Native Americans to increase lung capacity when running long distances or doing strenuous activities. It was also used as a substitute for black tea during the Revolutionary War and the leaves were chewed to prevent tooth decay.
Wintergreen oil is used today as a flavoring agent in many foods, toothpastes and mouthwashes, and its primary constituent, methyl salicylate, is used in many over-the-counter pain creams. Wintergreen essential oil’s medicinal properties include:
Mild analgesic
Anti-inflammatory
Antirheumatic
Antitussive (helps reduce coughing)
Emmenagogue & galactagogue (stimulates menstrual flow and milk production)
Anticoagulant (blood thinner)
Anti-hypertensive (lowers blood pressure)
Carminative (relieves flatulence)
Using Wintergreen Essential Oil
First, let’s talk safety. I love Wintergreen essential oil, but it can be very dangerous if used improperly. Only use Wintergreen essential oil topically/aromatically and sparingly. DO NOT INGEST. Because it is almost entirely made of methyl salicylate which turns into salicylic acid when absorbed into the skin, it can be poisonous when too much is used. So, don’t use it on children and keep it stored well away from them. Every bottle of Wintergreen essential oil sold in the United States should come with a childproof cap on it due to its potentially poisonous effects, but please don’t trust that cap to keep the oil from getting into the hands of curious kiddos. Just one teaspoon (5 ml) of the oil can be lethal if ingested–it’s the equivalent of taking 20 aspirin at once. And don’t overuse any creams, lotions, or gels with wintergreen or methyl salicylate in them. A couple other cautionary statements: Don’t use wintergreen if you have epilepsy (can trigger seizures), take blood thinning medications, are pregnant, or nursing.
Now that I’ve probably scared you away from wintergreen, let’s talk about how it can be used. In the Raindrop Technique, I apply roughly a total of 10 drops of wintergreen essential oil between your feet and your back. This is about one-half of a milliliter (0.5 ml), well under any dangerous amount. However, if you have an allergy to aspirin or have one of the conditions listed above, you should not get a Raindrop Technique or use wintergreen essential oil.
At home, you can use wintergreen essential oil safely if you use it sparingly and only apply it topically or diffuse it (aromatically). It can be useful to help relieve minor aches and pains if you add a couple of drops to a lotion or cream and rub into the affected areas. But again, please don’t overuse it. I personally use it in an essential oil roller to help relieve pain that contains many other essential oils and a carrier oil (so again, it is a very small amount). If you’d like to check out that essential oil roller, here it is on Revive Essential Oils’ website.
Sources
Encyclopedia of Essential Oils: The complete guide to the use of aromatic oils in aromatherapy, herbalism, health and well-being. Julia Lawless. Thorson’s Publishing, 2012.
Essential Oils Pocket Reference (6th ed.). Life Science Products and Publishing, 2014.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/methyl-salicylate
