Essential Oil Diffusing With an Electric Nebulizer: 3 Health Benefits

What Is an Electric Nebulizer and How Does It Work?

An electric nebulizing diffuser is a small device that has a motor housing and a glass nebulizer. The motor housing and glass nebulizer piece are often connected by a small length of rubber tubing. One or more essential oils are dispensed into an opening near the base of the glass piece. When the diffuser is turned on, the essential oils are aspirated toward the top of the glass nebulizer, where a small stream of air micronizes the essential oils into extremely fine droplets. This fine mist is expelled out the top of the glass nebulizer into the room.

Why Is Nebulizer Diffusion More Effective Than Other Types of Diffusion?

Other methods of essential oil diffusion include using lamp rings, a candle to heat the oil, or passive diffusion with an aromatherapy stone or a cotton ball. Heat diffusion is less desirable because alters the molecular constituents of the essential oil. Passive diffusion is typically very slow, particularly with less volatile essential oils, providing inferior therapeutic benefit.

With a nebulizing diffuser, no heat is used, so the molecular make up of the essential oils remains in tact. In most cases, all molecular components of the essential oil are expelled into the air, as opposed to passive diffusion where the smallest molecules evaporate first, with heavier molecules evaporating more slowly or not at all.

3 Health Benefits of Essential Oil Diffusing With a Nebulizer

1. Therapeutic Effects of Essential Oil Inhalation
Because the nebulizer produces such a fine essential oil mist, oils are easily absorbed via the lungs through inhalation. Nebulizing essential oils that affect the breathing passages – nose, sinuses, throat, and lungs – can have dramatic therapeutic benefits, and may help alleviate conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, and sinusitis.

2. Antibacterial, Antifungal, Antiviral Effects
Essential oils are known to be effective against bacteria, molds, and viruses, and diffusion of essential oils has been shown to reduce surface and air microbes. This may be especially helpful for those with mold allergies. Electric nebulizers disperse essential oils into the room in such a way that can not be achieved by other diffusion methods.

3. Enhanced Emotional and Mood Effects of Aromatherapy
Specific essential oils are recognized for mood lifting, calming, relaxing, or mind focusing effects. With a more concentrated and complete dispersion of essential oils into the room, electric diffusion with a nebulizer enhances these effects.

Don’t forget to rotate the essential oils you use, to help avoid sensitization, and only diffuse for a few minutes at a time, with at least a half hour break in between.