Close your eyes and imagine sinking into your hot tub and melting away stress. Turn the jets on for just the right pressure. They’re like a pair of strong, skilled hands gently but surely massaging away the crick in your neck or the tight band across your shoulders.

Nice, right? But don’t stop there—your hot tub experience is even better when it’s combined with an essential oil that lifts your mood, energizes you or calms you down, based on what you need.

You can  “dial in” your mood based on the oil that you choose because scents you inhale from aromatic essential oils affect the part of the brain that controls memory, emotion and moods says Joseph Feuerstein, MD, director of integrative medicine at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut.  He often uses aromatherapy in his practice, and he recommends it with massage, too. And what gives a great massage? Your Hot Spring Spa, of course.

Try these essential oils when you hot tub:

To Feel Happier. If you could use a mood lift, try a few drops of lavandin oil from a hybrid plant made by crossing true lavender with another variety called spike lavender. Lavandin oil has more powerful antiseptic properties and a sharper aroma than true lavender.

To Get an Energy Boost. Rosemary and peppermint are stimulating and have been shown to have cognitive benefits, enhancing memory, concentration and focus. They also boost circulation, revving you up from the inside out! Combined with the circulation boost you get from using the hot tub, you’ll be energized in no time.

To Reduce Anxiety and Feel Calmer. Whether you in a stressful period in your life or you just need to relax at the end of a long day, use citrus-based essential oils to calm down and enhance relaxation. Try lemon balm, mandarin and bitter orange and orange blossom oils. Chamomile oil also is calming. Just a few drops used in your hot tub help muscles relax.

Since essential oils are strong concentrations distilled from the leaves, bark, roots and other aromatic portions of a plant, they should not be applied directly to the skin. Just sprinkle a few drops into the hot tub. To use on your skin-at your temples, say- you must dilute the essential oil in carrier oil—and then apply. Carrier oils are pressed from seeds, nuts or kernels of plants. To make a hot tub aromatherapy treatment, add five drops of the essential oil to every five teaspoons of the carrier oil.

Find essential oils and carrier oils online and at health-food stores. You’ll only need a few drops of an essential oil or carrier oil in your hot tub to turn your hot tub into an aromatherapy treatment.

Source: Joseph Feuerstein, MD, is director of integrative medicine at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut and assistant professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.

 SANUM PER AQUA. Latin for Health through Water.

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