So How Does Aromatherapy Really Work?

So How Does Aromatherapy Really Work?

Learning how aromatherapy works will help you use these natural resources to benefit both mentally and physically. Human beings have used plants, flowers, roots and seeds for nourishment and medicinal purposes because plants are made out of chemicals, water, salt, proteins and alkaloids. Here is a brief explanation of how aromatherapy does work.

Essential Oils

Essentials oils are also known as volatile oils, which can be found in a sac at the surface of the leaves of a plant or flower. These oils contain the fragrance of the flower or plant from where the scents and perfumes are created. Volatile oils contain powerful ingredients besides fragrance such as antibiotic properties that help the flower to survive, repel other insects or bugs that may want to eat or attack it as well as help humans when used correctly.

Human Reaction to Volatile Oils

In order to fully understand how does aromatherapy work you need to learn to use the right type of oils in order to get the desired results. For example, if you are looking for aromatherapy to relieve stress, you need to pick soothing flowers and herbs such as lavender and chamomile. However, if you are looking to wake up and get energized you may want to look for ginger and/or citrus scents.

Essential oils are easily absorbed by human skin as well as easily distributed through the entire body due to which reason they are used for massages in order to alleviate muscle cramps, pains, arthritis and joint pain.

Other Ways to Enjoy Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy works internally and externally through local application on the skin or through the inhaling process. You will be able to find aromatherapy candles, plug-in air fresheners, oil burners and potpourris that can be placed in any room to spread the scent of choice throughout the house. When you inhale a particular aromatherapy scent, it acts directly on your nervous system by triggering the desired feeling such as stress relief, inducing sleep or increasing libido.

Understanding how does aromatherapy work will give you the power to maintain good health, achieve the mood and state of mind you desire. There are also a variety of books available on how does aromatherapy work, which will guide you through the various types of herbs and the essential oils that can be extracted from them and how you can benefit from them. It is important to note that each one of us react differently to aromatherapy whether it is applied locally or inhaled due to which reason it is best you first test it in order to rule out triggering an adverse reaction or allergies.

Does Aromatherapy Really Work?

Does Aromatherapy Really Work?

Aromatherapy, commonly associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), is the use of volatile liquid plant materials, known as essential oils (EOs), and other aromatic compounds from plants to affect someone’s mood or health.

When aromatherapy is used for the treatment or prevention of disease, a precise knowledge of the bioactivity and synergy of the essential oils used, knowledge of the dosage and duration of application, as well as, naturally, a medical diagnosis, are required. In the Anglo-Saxon world, even among “natural” practitioners like herbalists or naturopaths, aromatherapy is regarded more as an art form than a valid healing science. At best, it is viewed as a complementary and seldom the only treatment prescribed.

On the continent, especially in France, where it originated, aromatherapy is incorporated into mainstream medicine. There, the use of the anti-septic properties of oils in the control of infections is emphasized over the more “touchy feely” approaches familiar to English speakers. In France some essential oils are regulated as prescription drugs, and thus administered by a physician. In many countries they are included in the national pharmacopeia, but up to the present moment aromatherapy as science has never been recognized as a valid branch of medicine in the United States, Russia or Germany.

Essential oils, phytoncides and other natural VOCs work in different ways. At the scent level they activate the limbic system and emotional centers of the brain. When applied to the skin in the form of massage oils they activate thermal receptors, and kill microbes and fungi.

Internal application of essential oil preparations, mainly in pharmacological drugs, may stimulate the immune system, urine secretion, may have antiseptic activity etc. Different essential oils have very different activity.; they are studied in pharmacology and aromachology.

While the practice of aromatherapy is sometimes thought to be confined to inhalation, it may include various methods, including:

Inhalation (directly or diffused into the air)
Absorption through the skin (baths, massages, compresses)
Absorption through the mucous membranes (oral rinses and gargles)
Ingestion (occasionally prescribed, with caveats)

Skeptics argue that while pleasant scents can be relaxing, lowering stress and related effects, there is currently insufficient scientific proof of the effectiveness of aromatherapy. Like many alternative therapies, few controlled, double-blind studies have been carried out. A common explanation is that there is little incentive to do so if the results of the studies are not patentable.

There are some treatments generally accepted in Western medicine to give a form of relief for the airways in case of cold or flu, such as mint and eucalyptus essential oils.

Some skeptics acknowledge that aromatherapy has limited scientific support but argue that its claims go beyond the data or that the studies are not adequately controlled and peer reviewed.

The term “aromatherapy” has been applied to such a wide range of products that almost anything which contains essential oils is likely to be called an “aromatherapy product”, rendering the term somewhat meaningless in that context.

Some proponents of aromatherapy believe that the claimed effect of each type of oil is not caused by the chemicals in the oil interacting with the senses, but that the oil contains a distillation of the “life force” of the plant from which it is derived that will “balance the energies” of the body and promote healing or well-being by purging negative vibrations from the body’s energy field.

Arguing that there is little scientific evidence that healing can be achieved, or that the claimed “energies” even exist, many skeptics reject this form of aromatherapy as pseudoscience or even quackery.

Disclaimer: The information presented here should not be interpreted as or substituted for medical advice. Please talk to a qualified professional for more information about aromatherapy.

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