A Complete Guide on Aromatherapy

A Complete Guide on Aromatherapy

Essential oils are everywhere. These potent, fragrant plant extracts have made their way into lotions, household cleaners, massage treatments, and even integrative complementary therapy to help manage cancer symptoms.

 

 Their purported benefits are also wide ranging, from improving sleep and decreasing anxiety, to lowering pain and easing headaches, to taming a queasy stomach and fostering deeper relaxation.

Here, we explain what essential oils are, how they work, their potential health benefits, safety considerations, and how to find quality oils.

History of Essential Oils

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the earliest records suggest that essential oils come from ancient India, Persia, and Egypt.

 

 However, they’ve been used for centuries by many cultures for various purposes.
Ancient Egyptians used aromatic oils in cosmetics and ointments as early as 4500 B.C., whereas traditional Chinese and Indian medicine relied on aromatic oils for healing between 3000 and 2000 B.C.

 

Similarly, aromatherapy, or the practice of using aromatic materials, including essential oils, for physiological and physical wellness, has been used for centuries.

 

The oils were called “essential” because they were thought to represent the essence of odor and flavor coming from the plant sources they were derived from.

 

In the Western world, French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé is credited with founding the science of aromatherapy in 1928, drawing upon its ancient, global roots. He began analyzing the chemical properties of essential oils after witnessing the healing properties of lavender oil when applied to a burn on his hand. However, aromatherapy didn’t gain popularity in the United States until the 1980s.

 

Despite their long history and widespread use, scientists are still trying to understand how essential oils might work to promote health. To that end, essential oils have been studied for their effects on stress, pain, nausea and vomiting, sleep, anxiety and depression, and more.

How Essential Oils Are Derived and How They Work

Essential oils are made by steaming or pressing various parts of a plant to capture the compounds that give the plant its unique fragrance. Those oils can then be inhaled, added to a carrier oil for direct application on the skin, consumed orally (some, not all), or used in household products to clean and sanitize.

 

When inhaled, the molecules in essential oils travel up the nose and interact with scent receptors, which stimulates the olfactory nerve that connects to the brain.

Essential oils also create certain effects when applied to the skin. “Because of their low molecular weight and the fact that they’re fat-soluble, essential oils can get into the bloodstream and affect different aspects of our overall health,” Dr. Davila explains.

“But whether you use aromatherapy through the olfactory nerve [or the lungs], or through absorption [via] the skin, the effects are fairly similar,” she adds.

Ways to Breathe In Essential Oils

One of the most common ways people work with essential oils is by inhaling them via diffuser, dry evaporation, aroma sticks, or steam.

 

Diffuser

This is a device that breaks essential oils down into smaller molecules and sends them into the surrounding air. Some devices use water and heat so the oils evaporate.

 

Aroma Stick

Also known as an essential oil inhaler, an aroma stick is a portable plastic device with an absorbent wick at one end. The wick soaks up the essential oil and the accompanying cover protects the scent until you’re ready to remove it for a sniff. You can carry an aroma stick with you for inhales of aromatherapy throughout the day.

 

Dry Evaporation

Dry evaporation is exactly what it sounds like: Using a dry material to release the scent of an essential oil. Simply place several drops of essential oil on a cotton ball or tissue, or other absorbent material, like terra cotta, and allow it to evaporate into the air. You can sniff the cotton ball or keep it nearby.

 

Steam

Davila often recommends steam inhalation of essential oils to her clients. This method involves boiling a pot of water, removing it from the heat, adding 3 to 5 drops of an essential oil, and placing your face above the pot to breathe in the steam. The hot water quickly vaporizes the essential oil and the oil mixes with the rising steam. Be sure to take the pot off the stove and let it settle before leaning over it (and with caution touching the pot and if the steam is too hot for you). Place a towel over your head to slow the release of steam, close your eyes, and breathe normally. This will get the essential oil compounds into your lungs and respiratory tract, Davila says.
Many people use essential oils on their own at home. However, they’re also used by a variety of healthcare professionals and in various settings with patients. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), aromatherapy is sometimes incorporated into massage therapy for knee pain from osteoarthritis or pain, anxiety, and other symptoms in people with cancer.

They’re also used by doctors, nurses, chiropractors, acupuncturists, holistic healthcare providers, and dentists, notes Shanti Dechen, a certified clinical aromatherapy practitioner and licensed massage therapist, who is director of Aroma Apothecary Healing Arts Academy in Crestone, Colorado.

Possible Health Benefits of Essential Oils

Essential oils have the ability to affect the brain and travel throughout the body via the bloodstream. Here are a few of the potential benefits, when applied or inhaled safely:

Decrease Anxiety

Dechen says many people gravitate toward aromatherapy as a means of calming anxiety.

Research suggests there may be potential physiological benefits of aromatherapy in calming the nervous system. A recent review and meta-analysis of 90 studies (both randomized and nonrandomized) found that inhaling or ingesting lavender essential oil, diluted and under guidance, can significantly reduce anxiety levels. Incorporating lavender essential oil into massage was also found to help lower anxiety. However, authors say that studies on lavender and anxiety are of lower average quality. So, take these findings with a grain of salt.

 

Still, authors also say that, as inhaling lavender essential oil is generally safe, simple, and inexpensive, it may be considered as a therapeutic option for anxiety in some cases.

 

Lavender essential oil is thought to contain compounds that interact with the limbic system, the part of the brain that regulates your emotions. When inhaled, lavender exerts a relaxing effect, though much of the research has been done in test tubes and on animals.

 

Other essential oils that may lower anxiety include lemongrass oil, orange oil, bergamot oil, and cedarwood oil.

 

Promote and Aid Sleep

Given essential oils’ apparent relaxing effects, it’s unsurprising they may have the potential to help people sleep better.

In one small past study of 60 patients in a cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) in Turkey, those who inhaled lavender essential oil for 15 days saw significant improvements in sleep quality and decreased anxiety levels compared to patients who did not inhale the oil.
Another small past laboratory study had 31 healthy young adults, ages 18 to 30, stay in a sleep lab for three nights, and looked at the effects of sniffing lavender essential oil before bed versus a night without it (the control). Researchers discovered that lavender boosted slow- and deep-wave sleep and subjects also reported feeling “higher vigor” the next morning on their lavender smelling night compared to their control night.
  

Keep in mind that these studies were done in a short period of time, with small groups of people. Long-term studies using larger population sizes are needed to determine whether lavender can really assist with falling, and staying, asleep.

Relieve Nausea

Essential oils like peppermint and ginger have unique characteristics that may make them ideal for soothing nausea.

Peppermint oil, for example, helps relax gastrointestinal (GI) muscles and lower inflammation that contributes to nausea, and is used as a medicine to help manage IBS and other functional GI disorders.

 

Meanwhile, ginger speeds up digestion, preventing foods from sitting in the digestive tract and causing discomfort.

 

In a recent small study of 100 hospitalized patients, those who inhaled peppermint essential oil saw significant reductions in nausea and vomiting. In fact, their improvements were comparable to patients who combined aromatherapy with an antiemetic (anti-nausea medication).
However, not all studies have seen entirely positive results. One study in women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer found that inhaling ginger essential oil only somewhat decreased nausea and had no effect on vomiting.
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