Aromatherapy
Around the world, there are many treatments that are believed to help with your health in various ways that medicine is not able to. Aromatherapy is a holistic healing treatment that uses natural plant extract to promote your well-being and health. Essential oils are known as plant extracts, which are made by steaming or pressing parts of a plant to capture the compounds that create a fragrance. By using aromatic essential oils in a medical way, it is able to improve the health of the body, mind, and spirit.
A range of essential oils are found to be antiviral, nematicidal, antifungal, insecticidal, and have antioxidant properties in varying degrees. The whole goal of aromatherapy is to enhance physical and emotional health. Although some people may not believe in practicing aromatherapy in the science and medicine field, it has been used for thousands of years in ancient cultures of China, India, and Egypt. They were able to incorporate the aromatic plants they found to make resins, balms, and oils to be used as medical and religious remedies. Essential oils are thought to have begun in the 10th century with the Persians to pass down to Germans in the 16th century. Once French physicians acknowledged and learned about the potential of essential oils to treat diseases in the 19th century, it became more widely known in France while other medical doctors were focusing on using chemical drugs instead.
Aromatherapy is able to work through the sense of smell and skin absorption by using diffusers, inhalers, bathing salts, facial steamers, etc. Inhaling the essential oils will stimulate the olfactory system, which is connected to smell including the nose and the brain. The molecules from the oils enter through the nose and travel to the lungs and move throughout the body. Once the molecules reach the brain, they interact with the limbic system, affecting your emotions, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress, and hormone balance to have a holistic effect on the body.
There are hundreds of possible scents and essential oils available that are able to help in different ways to ease the mind and body. The most popular essential oils that are used are eucalyptus, fennel, cypress, lemongrass, lavender, lemon, and ginger. Combining essential oils is also able to create a synergistic blend for more possible benefits. The benefits including managing pain, improving sleep quality, reducing stress and anxiety, soothe sore joints, treat headaches and migraines, fight bacteria and viruses, improve digestion, and boost immunity are based on the type of essential oil and process used. Through the continuous use of essential oils, it may alleviate asthma, insomnia, fatigue, depression, alopecia, arthritis, and erectile dysfunction. Just like chemical medicines, aromatherapy has possible side effects such as rashes, asthma attacks, headaches, allergic reactions, skin irritation, and nausea, which is possible if you are taking prescription medications as well. It is important to remember not to apply the essential oils directly to your skin; it must be diluted with a carrier oil.
Before using any of the oils during your aromatherapy treatment, do a skin patch test to make sure you are not allergic or will not have a reaction to the specific oil. When using natural products, it can be very hazardous if they are used in the wrong way. However, if used in the correct way, aromatherapy can be very beneficial for people who see improvement with anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The relaxing technique will allow for mental and physical improvements in your health that prescribed medicine might not cure. Regardless, please consult a physician before changing any part of your lifestyle. Every individual is different, so the effects of aromatherapy versus any other methods including prescribed medicine may also vary.
References:
https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-aromatherapy#summary
