Nervous tension, anxiety treated with TCM sandalwood

What is sandalwood(Santalum Album, Tan Xiang)?
It refers to the woody heartwood of Santalum album L., which is a member in the family Santalaceae. Other common names of this herb are Chandana, Sandal Tree, Yellow Saunders, Lignum Santali Albi, Chandan, White Sandalwood, sandal wood, Tanxiang, Sanderswood, Bai Tan, Yellow Sandalwood, and White Saunders, more. It is mainly produced in India, Australia, and Indonesia. In China it is distributed in Hainan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Taiwan. The preferable harvesting season is summer. After the harvest, it needs to remove the sapwood and chip or cut into extremely thin slices with a special knife. Medicinally it is usually used raw.

Sandalwood benefits
It highly aromatic heartwood can be used to make artifacts and medicine. In temples it is burned directly or in the form of incense sticks to worship Buddha. As mentioned above, Santalum Album is a semi-parasitic plant, which grows very slowly and usually takes decades of years to grow to full size. That makes it one of the slowest growing trees but the mature trees can be up to 10 meters. This tree is so delicate that its seedlings survive only when parasiting on plants of phoenix tree, ormosia hosiei, Acacia rachii, and the like. As a result, the production of sandalwood is very limited. For that reason, since ancient time it has long been the rare, expensive wood and gift from nature. Today synthetic fragrances and perfumes dominate the world. But compared to this valuable natural spice, they are actually nothing.

Sandalwood as medicine and worship tool has a long history, which was recorded in the ancient Sanskrit classics and Chinese medicinal books. Sandalwood essential oil was used in religious rituals long time ago. It is said that ancient Egyptians imported sandalwood for a variety of purposes, including medicine, antisepsis, worship in religious ceremonies, and carving art. Actually many statues of the Buddha were directed carved with sandalwood wood. Ayurveda, a traditional medicine system from the Indian subcontinent, points out that it owns tonic, astringent, and antipyretic properties. And sandalwood paste was and is used to treat skin inflammation, abscesses and tumors. Similarly, this is also an important herb in traditional Chinese medicine. Today it is still widely used in treatment of various symptoms, such as biliary disease, cystitis, gonorrhea, abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting. What’s more, it especially works wonders for chapped skin, housewives’ eczema, dark spots on skin and face, insect bites, and the like. This herb has so many health benefits, but the top 5 are as follows:

1) Psychological effectiveness. Smelling scent with a sandalwood diffuser is a good way for relaxing since it can soothe nervous tension and anxiety. In addition, it receives a positive response from many users who often find themselves in the state of being obsessed and want to improve it;

2) Physiological effects. It is extremely helpful to the genitourinary system. It can improve cystitis. When used to massage the kidney area, it is able to clear blood and reduce inflammation; its aphrodisiac properties can improve sexual problems, such as frigidity and Impotence; it make patients who suffer from mucosal inflammation feel comfortable and sleep better. It can stimulate the immune system to prevent bacterial infection; it has a preventive action on allergic skin, benefits dry Eczema and aging dry skin, makes the skin softer, and improves itchy or inflamed skin; the use of sandalwood incense or other products can help sleep.

3) Cosmetic effect. Pure sandalwood oil is suitable for aging, dry skin. It can promote skin metabolism, speed up the growth and renewal of skin cell, accelerate the healing of wounds and scars, and help repair damaged skin cells. In addition, it also has good antibacterial effect, which can improve skin conditions like irritation and itch and thereby get rid of Acne. So, you can improve your skin by homemade sandalwood mask.