Peppermint is cool. And when you live in Texas, and late July rolls around, you look for anything cool you can get your hands on.

This morning I need to wash lettuce so I turned the tap to the cold setting to put a few inches of water into the sink for swishing. When I tested it, the water was not even close to cold; in fact, it was warm enough for a bath!

[Aside: if you’ve ever been to Austin, you’ve surely seen Barton Springs or some other natural spring water bubbling up around here. That water is cold; 68 – 71 degrees year round! But the well here on our property west of town reaches 650 ft. and that groundwater is warm, y’all! The earth’s rocks and the deep aquifers’ waters are tepid at best!]

Even swimming pools are warm these days. So how do you ever get cool besides jumping into a spring? You swig some iced peppermint water, for starts.

Peppermint Essential Oil In Your Water Bottle*

I love that first bracing cold swig. It literally feels cold in your mouth, and immediately wakes you up. The phytochemical make-up of peppermint essential oil causes the skin to feel cool then warm, just like when a health practitioner alternates using cold packs then heat packs to sooth discomfort of muscles.

That physical sensation of coolness is for real when you’re using plant oil that comes from a living peppermint plant. There’s no mistaking it.

Now, I don’t know exactly why Peppermint feels so good when you have a tension headache or are feeling cloudy, funky or stressed. But it’s true; when you rub some peppermint oil on your forehead or the back of your neck, that tingly feeling feels amazing. Not only is the ever-present sensation comforting, it even distracts you from any discomfort you felt before.

 

Peppermint Essential Oil Exhilarates Your Body, Mind and Spirit

And grogginess? It’s gone! Pliny liked peppermint oil. (Say that five times fast.)

[Tweet “Peppermint oil’s mental benefits have been proven and praised for centuries.”]

The purifying and stimulating fragrance opens the airways and enhances circulation to the brain. If your attention is lagging, your focus is off, and your motor skills aren’t at their peak; you can rub some peppermint oil onto your temples and behind the ears to enhance alertness. My late afternoon running-around is perkier with peppermint oil in the car.

I mentioned the physical sensation of peppermint oils in your drinking water and applied topically, but here’s a fact I never knew before: Peppermint oil boosts your workouts, too! According to this study…

The results were actually pretty surprising. You might expect a boost, but the extent that peppermint consumption improved performance was considerable. The oil improved exercise performance, respiratory function, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory gas exchange. It also reduced resting blood pressure and heart rate. The amount of total work performed by the test subjects was increased by a whopping 51%, including an increase in the time to exhaustion of about 25%. So not only did the subjects go for a quarter longer than they did without the peppermint oil, their work rate per unit time was higher too. In other words, they went faster for longer.

Those are the main ways I use peppermint oil in our household, but do your research. There are dozens of other applications and benefits:

• Relieves sore muscles
• Aids healthy digestion
• Suppresses your appetite, giving you the sensation of fullness
• Helps memory and concentration
• Lowers acidity in the body
• Maintains healthy respiratory function

Hot summer months are a great time to sample some uber-cooling and awakening peppermint oil by Young Living.

*By the way, I’m only talking about water made from Young Living Peppermint Oil. The Seed To Seal™ Guarantee assures 100% purity, so I feel good about ingesting it. I wouldn’t swig water with any other brand’s oil. I just wouldn’t take the chance. And be sure to drink out of a glass container. Plastic’s no good with ingested oils.

*The FDA has not analyzed this statement for accuracy. This statement is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or heal any known or suspected disease. Consult your doctor.