Archive for the ‘Aromatherapy’ Category
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy
How Essential Oils Work
- Essential oils are odoriferous, volatile liquid components of aromatic plants and in their natural state contain a number of complex bio-chemicals including vitamins, antibiotics and antiseptics.
- They penetrate the body in two ways; through the nose and the skin.
- Scientific clinical research shows essential oils to be; immune stimulating, anti-bacterial, anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-microbial, anti-tumoral, anti-infectious, anti-parasitic.
- Clinical research shows that essential oils may even create an environment in which disease, bacteria, virus, fungus, and so on cannot live.
- Essential oils are able to penetrate and carry nutrients through the cell wall to the cell nucleus and this is due to the oxygenating molecules found in oils. The oils are considered nature’s most effective catalyst and delivery agent for feeding cells.
- If cells become deprived of nutrition, the wall thickens and causes cell deterioration leading to cell mutation, creating a host for bacteria and disease.
Essential Oils Have Four Modes of Action
- Pharmacological: The effects of chemical changes which take place when an essential oil enters the bloodstream and reacts with hormones, enzymes etc.
- Physiological: The way an essential oil affects the systems of the body, whether they are sedated or stimulated etc.
- Psychological: The individual response to the inhaled aroma of an essential oil.
- Holistic: The human body’s total response to an essential oil, including but not limited to, the responses listed above. Aromatherapy and essential oils have been around for thousands of years. And now scientific research shows has proven that these substances are complex, powerful with remarkable medical properties.
Aromas and the Sense of Smell
- Nerve cells in the nasal cavity detect aromas and pass the information through the olfactory bulb and into the brain. The olfactory nerve cells are the only sensory pathways that open directly into the brain. The olfactory stimuli regulate our mental and physical wellbeing. As you inhale an aroma odour molecules enter your nostrils and drift up towards your olfactory receptors. Once in the receptors identify an odour, nerve cells relay this information directly to the limbic system.
- Aromas then link the limbic area of the brain to the areas that affect many of our human functions where the nervous and endocrine systems regulate and control bodily processes such as hormones, digestion and breathing.
- The direct link between the sense of smell and certain areas of the brain helps to explain why aromas experienced have a powerful effect on the mind and emotions and in bringing forth memories.
Inhalation
- When you inhale essential oils they enter your respiratory system as well as your brain.
- In your lungs molecules of essential oils attach themselves to oxygen molecules and are carried in your bloodstream and circulated to every cell in your body.
- Essential oils can activate the body’s ability to heal itself and improve health.
- Direct inhalation or diffusion will enhance emotional wellness, relax or rejuvenate and pleasurable scents unlock odour memories, trigger our emotions and release stress. 1
Profile
Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis)
Much of the Melissa essential oil on the commercial market is a mixture of Lemongrass and Cirtonella. It is commonly sold as 100% essential oil. But it does not have the same therapeutic effects as 100% Melissa oil. The reason there so much of the adulterated version on the market is attributed to the expense of production because of the amount needed to extract the oil. The oil has a reputation for its calming effects. Its fragrance is also used in perfumes, cosmetics and toiletries. 2
To find out more about lemon Balm go to this link Lemon Balm
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References
1. Information from the course material from the Aromatherapy course at the Health and Harmony Colleges, Brisbane, www.healthandharmony.com.au
2. Christina Stephenson. 2010. Lemon Balm: The Neglected Herb. Self Publisher. P. 27
