Aromatherapy: How Essential Oils Can Help Improve Your Life

By Dr. Mercola

Scents can have a powerful influence on your well-being. Aromatherapy, which uses concentrated essences of various botanicals, allows you to harness the olfactory power of plants for healing on many levels.

Essential Oils carry biologically active volatile compounds in a highly concentrated form that can provide therapeutic benefits in very small amounts.

Aromatherapy Oil

Scents Can Alter Your Nervous System

When you inhale the fragrance of an essential oil, the aroma penetrates your bloodstream via your lungs,3 and this is thought to be one of the mechanisms by which aromatherapy exerts its physiological effects. Essential oils are also easily absorbed through your skin when applied topically.

The fragrance also affects the limbic system in your brain, which controls both memories and emotions. Many essential oils have antibacterial, antifungal, and/or antiviral qualities, and contrary to antibiotics, essential oils do not promote resistance.4

Modern scientists are not only finding compelling links between scents and human behavior,5 scents can actually influence the biochemistry of your nervous system.

This was shown in a 2002 Japanese study,6 which found that certain oils would stimulate sympathetic nervous system activity whereas others would calm it. (Your sympathetic nervous system modulates processes such as your heart rate, blood vessel constriction, and blood pressure.)

For example:

·         Black pepper, fennel, and grapefruit oil caused a 1.5- to 2.5-fold increase in sympathetic nervous system activity (as measured by an increase in systolic blood pressure)

·         Rose and patchouli oil resulted in a 40 percent decrease in sympathetic nervous system activity

·         Pepper oil induced a 1.7-fold increase in plasma adrenaline concentration

·         Rose oil caused adrenaline to drop by 30 percent

Lavender and Jasmine Help Uplift Your Mood

A Korean study7 found that lavender reduced both insomnia and depression in female college students.

Another study8 published in Phytomedicine in 2010 found that an orally administered lavender oil preparation (Silexan) was as effective as the drug Lorazepam for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. According to the authors:

Aromatherapy Spray

"Since lavender oil showed no sedative effects in our study and has no potential for drug abuse, silexan appears to be an effective and well tolerated alternative to benzodiazepines for amelioration of generalized anxiety."

Other research9 has concluded the essential oil of jasmine can also uplift mood and counteract symptoms of depression. The authors noted that:

"Compared with placebo, jasmine oil caused significant increases of breathing rate, blood oxygen saturation, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which indicated an increase of autonomic arousal.

At the emotional level, subjects in the jasmine oil group rated themselves as more alert, more vigorous, and less relaxed than subjects in the control group. This finding suggests an increase of subjective behavioral arousal.

In conclusion, our results demonstrated the stimulating/activating effect of jasmine oil and provide evidence for its use in aromatherapy for the relief of depression and uplifting mood in humans."

Essential Oils for Common Maladies

There are probably as many uses for aromatherapy as there are essential oils, but research shows particular promise in relieving stress, stabilizing your mood, improving sleep, pain and nausea relief, and improving your memory and energy level.

To give you an idea of the versatility of aromatherapy, the following table lists some of the therapeutic uses of several oils for a few of today's most common complaints.12 As you can see, there are some real "multitaskers," like lavender and peppermint, which can be used to treat more than one problem.13

Complaint	Essential Oils
Stress	Lavender, lemon, bergamot, peppermint, vetiver, pine, and ylang ylang
Insomnia	Lavender,14 chamomile, jasmine, benzoin, neroli, rose, sandalwood, sweet marjoram, and ylang ylang (avoid lemon, which has an invigorating effect15)
Anxiety	Lavender, bergamot, rose, clary sage, lemon, Roman chamomile, orange, sandalwood, rose-scented geranium, and pine16
Pain	Lavender, chamomile, clary sage, juniper, eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, lavender, and green apple (especially for migraines)
Nausea and vomiting	Mint, ginger, lemon, orange, ginger, dill, fennel, chamomile, clary sage, and lavender
Memory and attention	Sage, peppermint,17 and cinnamon
Low energy	Black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, angelica, jasmine, tea tree, rosemary, sage, and citrus

Resources

Aromatherapy can be a beneficial adjunct to your overall health plan. It's not a replacement for wise lifestyle choices like good nutrition and exercise, but it can certainly help enhance your physical and emotional health. Aromatherapy is one more tool you can keep in your tool bag for managing everyday stress, balancing out mood swings and improving your sleep for example.

·         National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA):23 Everything about the medicinal use of aromatic plants and the holistic practice of aromatherapy

·         Aroma Web:24 A directory of aromatherapy information, tips, recipes, sources, including a regional aromatherapy business directory

·         American Botanical Council:25 Herbal medicine information that includes an herb library and clinical guide to herbs

·         Herb Med:26 Interactive electronic herb database (some information is free, but full access requires a fee)

·         I also offer further information on 57 different oils in my Ultimate Guide to Herbal Oils