What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is a branch of holistic healing that makes use of the fragrance of natural essential oils extracted from various plant sources such as leaves, bark, roots, seeds, resins, and flowers. This type of treatment uses the aroma of the essential oils to stimulate the senses, treat impaired wellbeing and induce wellness in the patient’s body and mind.
Aside from enhancing your physical health, aromatherapy can also improve your mental and emotional health. Quite recently, more and more experts in the fields of science and medicine recognized that aromatherapy indeed has medical benefits.
This kind of therapy belongs to complementary medicine methods and has a wide use in common households, e.g. within massage oils, aroma bath essences or scented candles. Flavors have effects on human sense of smell and influence e.g. emotions, muscles and organs in a healthy way.
How Does Aromatherapy Work?
The soothing smells of the essential oils activate the receptors in the nose, which then send signals directly to the limbic system in the brain. This is the part of the brain that controls your emotions, memory, appetite, and sex drive. The strong smells of different essential oils elicit different physical responses – from changing one’s breathing patterns, lowering blood pressure, and raising or lowering heart rate.
Many of the common mental and physical conditions are treatable using aromatherapy. Among them are certain body pains. Aromatherapy is also effective in increasing your focus and concentration and improving your digestion. You can even use it to deal with insomnia.
The good thing about aromatherapy is that you can use it in various means – among which are
- Direct inhalation
- Using vaporizers/humidifiers
- As a perfume
- Using an essential oil diffuser
Benefits of Aromatherapy
If you are still in doubt whether aromatherapy is right for you, here are some of the benefits that you can receive when you do it.
- Reduces stress – Although it is impossible to avoid all the things that cause you stress, you can use aromatherapy to make your stress levels manageable at the very least.
Lavender essential oil, according to many medical experts, is a good choice for reducing stress. The smell of lavender flowers can help calm your mind. It can also lower blood pressure, slow down your heart rate, and alter your brain waves to help you feel more relaxed.
- Provides an energy boost – Certain essential oils can help reinvigorate your senses, essentially giving you an instant burst of energy. This is great if you want to cut back on caffeine but need a boost of energy to get you through the workday afternoon.
- Improves focus and concentration – Most of those who use aromatherapy these days do so because they want to improve their brain functions. Certain essential oils used in aromatherapy work in calming the mind and removing brain fog. This further promotes ease in gathering your thoughts and concentrating on your tasks at hand.
Some Alzheimer’s patients have also shown considerable improvement after using aromatherapy for a certain period. In addition to the ones mentioned, you will surely discover many more benefits of aromatherapy. With that, you can do your body a lot of good by giving it a try right now.
