Everyone knows you need to be well hydrated to maintain your health.

When you exercise it is especially important to drink more water for your body to function optimally. Dehydration can occur when you are not getting enough water into your body. Dehydration can lead to many bothersome, and even dangerous side effects.

Unfortunately many people get bored drinking plain water and chose instead to drink sugary or diet drinks. What they don’t realize is that these types of drinks aren’t absorbed by your body as well as pure water and can actually cause dehydration.

A healthy way to add taste to water is to add a few drops of food grade Essential Oils to purified water.

If you enjoy the flavor of mint, try adding a few drops of Spearmint or Wintergreen Essential oils Manufacturer to purified water. They both create a minty, refreshing flavored drink that helps to energize your mind and body. Adding Peppermint Oil to cold or hot water is a great choice to help you feel alert and energized. All mint-flavored waters can aid digestion or relieve a nervous stomach.

Adding Lemon oil to purified water is very refreshing and can aid to stabilize your PH, making an exercise routine more effective for reaching your goal, whether it be losing weight, gaining speed or building muscles.

You can create a healthy snack that will give you energy by adding a drop or two of food grade Essential Oil to honey and spread it on a toasted piece of whole grain bread. Try adding Lemon, Tangerine or Orange Oil to honey and enjoy.

Honey is known for its amazing healing properties. Because it contains 100% natural sugars and is high in antioxidants, using honey as a sweetener is a healthy and effective way to give you an energy boost.

Aromatherapy can help us to get into the right frame of mind for work or play, which helps us to get the most out of the time we have for each experience. By diffusing therapeutic grade Essential Oils in the space you exercise or when you are preparing for a work out it makes it possible to find emotional stability and peace of mind, while experiencing high energy and feeling motivated. When you have more energy and are less stressed you find you enjoy exercising more and look forward to it as enjoyable, rather than something you “have: to do.

If you experience stiff muscles after a strenuous workout, or feel muscle tension anywhere in your body before you exercise, you can use Essential Oils to relieve that pain.

You can create a massage oil or cream that is specifically suited to your body’s needs. A good carrier oil is olive oil or you can use a natural body lotion that has no added scents or chemicals.

Creating a massage oil using Peppermint, Basil or Wintergreen Oil to sooth stiff muscles or help loosen up your joints before you begin to exercise. Try using Pine, Lemongrass or Lavender Oil in your massage lotion to help relax tight muscles or relieve a charley horse.

Using a carrier oil allows you to use less of an Essential Oil and aids in the absorption of the oil into the blood stream for faster results.

Stiff muscles may be a sign that you need to be more hydrated. So remember the first tip and drink plenty of pure water before, during and after any period of time that you exercise.

If bruise yourself when exercising, you can use Essential Oils to avoid excess blood clotting, increase circulation and reduce inflammation.

At the first sign of a bruised area on the skin or pain in the bruised area you can apply one of the following Essential Oils diluted in a carrier oil. Helichrysum, Wintergreen, Douglas Fir, Idaho Balsam Fir, or Oregano all help to reduce inflammation that causes discoloration and pain.

When the pain and inflammation decrease, use Cypress, then Basil to enhance muscle relaxation. Other oils that have anti-inflammation properties are Spearmint, German Chamomile, Myrrh, Wintergreen, Marjoram and Clove.

Next use a diluted Peppermint oil to stimulate the nerves and increase circulation to help reduce inflammation.

Always use a cold pack, never a hot pack, when you are dealing with inflammation and pain caused by a bruise.
Remember that EVERY BODY is different and our bodies react differently to different oils.

Julia L. Wright lives in a small Colorado mountain town that is filled with holistic healers and artists. I am an artist who creates feathery masks and jewelry creations. For over 25 years I have coordinated an arts and crafts festival in Manitou Springs for the Commonwheel Artists Co-op that I have been a member of for most of its 36 years. I was introduced to Essential Oils over 15 years ago when recovering from a bad car accident and minor concussion and have used them for many purposes from healing to natural cleaning.