Aromatherapy101

Lovers of good smell will swear to you that good smell does wonders to them, that it calms them and bring them peace. Others will tell you it’s a figment of their reality. It's not an unknown fact that people tend to enjoy the presence of an individual who smells good.

About 5000 years ago, Ancient Egyptians (as usual) used plants to heal themselves, they didn’t follow the regular method of getting the juice out for oral consumption. Nay! This time they burnt these plants and used the divine scent to heal themselves, while this may not be the oldest record of aromatherapy, it one of the earliest. Around that same time, the Chinese(also as usual) had started to document the medicinal potency of using plant extract to heal themselves.

The Greeks went a step further by using plant aroma for healing, homecare, and body care, imagine that! In 1027, Abu Ali Sina(known in the West as Avicenna) published his famous book “Book of “ in which he stated several of the benefits of aromatherapy, also, he devised, brilliantly the technique of distilling essential oils. To give you a good understanding of aromatherapy, it’d be good to get a grasp of the following two terms:

Essential Oil: these are concentrated plant extracts that retain the natural smell and flavor, or “essence,” of their source. Essential oils are obtained through distillation (via steam and/or water) or mechanical methods, such as cold pressing. Once the aromatic chemicals have been extracted, they are combined with a carrier oil to create a product that’s ready for use. The way the oils are made is important, as essential oils obtained through chemical processes are not considered true essential oils.

Aromatherapy: is defined as the art and science of using essential oils to relax, balance, and stimulate the body, mind, and spirit.

The terms defined above are a summary of what Aromatherapy is, however, we may ask, why aromatherapy? Of what use are these essential oils? Apart from them smelling nice what benefits are to be gained from them? A summary of this will be made, here are the five major importance of aromatherapy.

Improving sleep: lavender as to be the most popular essential oil for people looking to relax through sleep. The soothing scent from the oil is bound to drift users to sleep as soon as they start perceiving it. Lavender isn’t the only essential oil with this property, vanilla, Rose and Geranium, Jasmine, Sandalwood, and Citrus are also good essential oils.
A recent study showed that aromatherapy reduces the need for pain medication in children between 6-12years old.

Reduce stress and anxiety: essential oils, when inhaled are capable of stimulation smell receptors in the nose, they can send messages to the nervous system. they have also been observed to have a subtle effect on body chemicals and energy systems. as a result, aromatherapy with essential oils is often employed as a natural remedy to relieve stress and anxiety
The most popular essential oils known for their relieving effects are: Valerian, Jatamansi, Lavender, Jasmine, Holy Basil, Sweet basil, Bergamot all of these are best used with carrier oils as they may be irritable to some skin.

Improve mood: according to a 2008 study, a group of 58 cancer patients voluntarily underwent aromatherapy with aim to improve their mood and beat depression, after a 7days experiment patients were observed to have had a significant improvement in their mood. Generally, good scents are known to lighten the mood. It also worthy of note that a mixture of essential oils will produce a better result.

Reducing inflammation: Although with limited research, certain evidence points to the fact that essential oils may be very helpful in reducing inflammation. A 2010 study stated that the following essential oils possess anti-inflammatory properties:

-clove
thyme
rose
fennel
bergamot
eucalyptus

Its’ been noted that these oils helped reduced the expression of the inflammatory COX-2 enzyme by at least a 25percent. This points to the fact that along with all the good things essential oils are, they are also anti-inflammation remedies.

You’d observe that a lot of emphases has been laid on essential oils when in fact the article is on aromatherapy, this is because aromatherapy is practically nonexistent in the absence of these oils, also there’s a need to know how to identify the right essential oil for you and this is what you may want to look forward to in my next article.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-are-essential-oils#how-they-work
https://www.organicspamagazine.com/aromatherapy-101/