What is aromatherapy?
The use of scent is one of the oldest healing modalities known
to man, as well as one of the "newest" and fastest growing.
Healers through the ages have known the power of aroma, to stimulate,
to relax, to alter mood and consciousness, and impact the physical
body. Aromatic unguents and inhalants (incense) have been used
in "medicine" since its earliest practice, dating at
least to ancient Egypt, and probably earlier.
The modern term "aromatherapie" was coined in 1928
by Rene Maurice Gattefosse. He utilized the word to imply the
therapeutic use of aromatic substances. As Aromatherapy developed
into a practice, it adopted an holistic approach, encompassing
the body, the mind and the spirit (energy).
Aromatherapy can be defined as the art and science of utilizing
naturally extracted aromatic essences from plants to balance,
harmonize and promote health. It is a natural, noninvasive treatment
system designed to affect the whole person, not just the symptom
or disease, and to assist the body's natural ability to balance,
regulate, heal and maintain itself.
At the heart of aromatherapy is the fact that just about everything
in the world has an essence - the thing that gives it its smell.
The fact that these essences are insoluble in water has led to
them becoming known as essential oils, the basic tools of the
aromatherapist. In aromatherapy blending, only natural ingredients
such as essential oils, absolutes, CO2s, grain alcohol, carrier
oils, herbs and water are used.
How are the aromas released into
the air?
"Diffusion is the process of dispersing essential oils so
that their aroma fills a room, or an area, with the natural fragrance.
From the simple to the elaborate, many methods exist for diffusing
oils into a room..." Go to full article, "Aromatherapy
and Essential Oil Diffusers", on the AromaWeb website
In the near future, the prototype aromaComposer will become the
crème de la crème of commercially available aroma
diffusers. It is truly the world's most advanced, totally controllable,
multi-scent blending and diffusion system.
How do scent and the human olfactory
system interact?
Viewed from an evolutionary perspective, smell is the most primitive
of the senses. It was the first of our senses to evolve, and is
the first to kick in after birth. Perhaps its ancient nature accounts
for the emotionally charged, evocative nature of smell.
Smell has a more direct route to the brain than any other sense.
Our sense of smell is estimated to be 10,000 times more acute
than our other senses. Olfactory receptor cells are nerve cells
that communicate directly with the brain. The nose contains millions
of receptor cells, which mediate the olfactory system's high sensitivity
to an extraordinary range of odors. Although some aromas are so
subtle they do not register consciously, the nose and brain can
detect 10,000 or more different odors.
How do odors
affect our experience and behavior?
Olfactory responses to odors induce the brain, or at least parts
of it, to stimulate the release of hormones and neurochemicals
that alter body physiology and therefore human behavior. Odors
are processed directly from the olfactory through the limbic system,
a primitive part of the brain having to do with emotions, memory,
sexual behavior and certain visceral activities. This is where
"the pleasure center" is located, the stimulation of
which relates to primal behavior and the reinforcement of learning.
How is aromatherapy currently
being used?
"I suspect that aromatherapy will come into its own in the
next century both as a form of alternative medicine and an aid
to conventional treatment."
Andrew Weil, M.D.
It's already happening! Here are just a few examples of the breadth
of its current use … and some new frontiers!
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In addition to healthcare settings, aromatherapy
is being introduced into industrial environments and business
offices to promote health and productivity. |
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After-Flight Regulator essential oils blends
developed by aromatherapist Daniele Ryman to treat jet lag,
are now offered at some London hotels and at the duty-free
shop in Heathrow Airport's international terminal. |
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Japanese construction firms are enhancing efficiency
and reducing stress among office workers by pumping fragrances
through air conditioning systems. |
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In healthcare, traditional and modern applications
are broadly categorized as clinical/medical, aesthetic/cosmetic,
and holistic/naturopathic. |
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Aromatherapy is the fastest growing of all complementary
therapies among nurses in the United States. It is now recognized
by the U.S. State Boards of Nursing as a legitimate part of
holistic nursing. |
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A skilled practitioner will have suggestions
for the use of aromatherapy to improve the skin, muscles and
joints, circulation, digestive and respiratory systems and
the reproductive and endocrine systems. |
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In hospitals in Oxford, England, essential oils
of lavender, marjoram, geranium, mandarin and cardamom have
replaced chemical sedatives. These and other oils relax people,
lower blood pressure, increase mental acuity, normalize body
functions, reduce stress, and even act as aphrodisiacs. |
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Aromatherapy might play a role in the management
of chronic pain through relaxation. It is thought to enhance
the parasympathetic response through the effects of touch
and smell, encouraging relaxation at a deep level. Relaxation
has been shown to alter perceptions of pain. Clinical trials
are in the early stages, but evidence suggests that aromatherapy
might be used as a complementary therapy for managing chronic
pain. |
What kinds of research projects
are underway to help us understand how aromatherapy works and
to expand its usefulness?
There is a growing body of evidence in the scientific literature
suggesting that plant essential oils, alone or in combination
with other therapies, may be beneficial in treating a number of
health conditions.
The sense of smell has long been known to influence behavior
in animals and humans, but scientists couldn't access the olfactory
system's inner working to find out how. Then, in 1991, molecular
biologist Linda Buck, then at Columbia University, New York, and
then-colleague molecular biologist Richard Axel, cloned a large
family of odor receptor proteins. This work allowed researchers
to begin deciphering the olfactory code - a discovery that would
lead to understanding how the brain knows what the nose smells,
and ultimately how odors influence behavior.
"Ten years ago, the field was practically a backwater, and
then Buck and Axel discovered the olfactory receptors," says
[Duke University neurobiologist Larry] Katz. "That broke
the field open and put it on firm molecular footing, attracting
a lot of people into the field. Today, olfaction is a field that's
truly exploding."
In the late 90s, Harvard Medical School started reporting on
their research in this area and said that health and mood were
directly influenced by aromas and that each aroma has a distinctly
different effect. Olfaction, says neuroscientist Cori Bargmann,
University of California, San Francisco, holds a key that might
unlock the different strategies involved in assembling complex
behaviors.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine,
an activity of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'
National Institutes of Health (NIH), is currently supporting multiple
studies in the area of aromatherapy under a variety of funding
mechanisms.
Considerable university-based research has been completed and
is currently underway, not to mention the corporate-funded research
projects. Here is a brief sampling of the academically-based studies
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At Rockefeller University, New York City, all
the senses, save taste, come under scrutiny. Physician and
PhD Charles Gilbert, a neurobiology professor whose research
involves visual modality, says the interdisciplinary nature
of the work involves molecular biology, systems neuroscience,
and mathematics, among other disciplines. |
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… doctors at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center found that the vanilla-like aroma of heliotropin
significantly reduced anxiety in patients undergoing MRI scans. |
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… a study among menopausal women …
showed that moods improved in response to fragrance, even
among those who didn't particularly like the scent. |
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In the journal Integrative Psychiatry, an article
reported that the effects of two fragrance oils on the human
central nervous system (CNS) were studied using neurophysiological
measurements. These were inhaled lavender and jasmine. The
fragrance-specific characteristic changes were noted on quantitative
EEG. It was determined that the effects of fragrance oils
must be considered from two significant factors: psychological
and physiological. |
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A University of Cincinnati study showed that
fragrances of peppermint and Lily of the Valley increased
subjects' performance accuracy by 15 to 25 percent. A replication
study at Catholic University using only peppermint achieved
the same findings. |
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At the Cardiff University School of Biosciences, using
EEG recording [students] analyzed the effect of two essential
oils, ylang ylang and rosemary, in the alpha wave content
of the brain activity of second-year students. The generation
of alpha waves by the brain is thought to be associated
with the degree of arousal; high alpha wave activity being
associated with a low level of arousal (relaxed state).
While there are clear trends, rosemary suppresses alpha-activity
while ylang ylang enhances it…. Rosemary is a well-known
stimulant and ylang ylang is a soothing, relaxing aroma.
The results are therefore supportive of the suggested effects
of these two oils.
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How accepted is aromatherapy now?
While we are just at the beginning of the boom in aromatherapy,
acceptance is well established throughout several sectors of society.
It's not so long ago that any "alternative" therapy
was classed as weird, flaky, downright dangerous or just a plain
waste of time by many in the medical profession. How times change.
You will always have the diehards, but more and more people in
the medical profession are embracing natural therapies as valuable
adjuncts to their own skills. Aromatherapy is one such practice
that is now finding widespread acceptance from doctors, nurses
and, crucially, administrators and funding bodies who once would
have rejected it out of sight.
Thousands of scientists and researchers, as well as medical,
beauty and health professionals, working individually or as part
of professional organizations, are already satisfied by aromatherapy,
as are the millions of people, particularly in England, France,
Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, where aromatherapy is widely
practiced. The United States, Canada and Australia are the new
frontiers.
As recently as 15 years ago there were but one or two English-language
aromatherapy books and few published articles. Today there are
dozens and hundreds, respectively.
Governmental support denotes mainstream acceptance, and The National
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), under
the aegis of the National Institutes of Health, was funded for
the year 2002 with more than $100 million to support research
on the many untapped opportunities to define the safety and effectiveness
of complementary and alternative medicine approaches, and to disseminate
research findings to the public and healthcare practitioners.
According to an item from NCCAM on Frontier Medicine, "Frontier
medicine includes the role of spirituality in healing, vibrational
medicine, and subtle energies, such as homeopathy, reiki, aromatherapy,
Bach Flower Remedies and Qi gong." Holistic Nurse Practitioner
reports that "Aromatherapy, a branch of herbology, is one
of the fastest growing therapies in the world today."
On a more commercial note, the giant cosmetic manufacturer Shiseido
has created a Zen fragrance that produces an effect in the brain
similar to the one produced by Zen meditation, so this new fragrance
actually improves one's state of mind. And the term Aroma-Chology
(a Service mark of the Olfactory Research Fund) was coined in
1982 to denote the science that is dedicated to the study of the
interrelationship between psychology and … fragrance technology
to elicit a variety of specific feelings and emotions - relaxation,
exhilaration, sensuality, happiness and well-being - through odors
via stimulation of olfactory pathways in the brain, especially
the limbic system.
So what does the future
of aromatherapy look like?
As previously noted, the aromatherapy boom has barely begun!
As ongoing research continues to reveal the profound and powerful
relationship between smell and human behavior, the applications
for aromatherapy will continue to explode.
For instance, the new Sensory Neuroscience Research Center in
the otolaryngology department at West Virginia University which
focuses on vision, hearing, vestibular and somatosensory research
is about to expand to include olfactory in its studies.
While the medical and healing uses of aromatherapy are expanding
in a very public way, other uses, such as in entertainment, have
barely begun to be explored.
As an example, given its power to stir memory and facilitate
changes in mood and feeling, it is surprising that olfactory has
so far played a minor role in development of Virtual Reality products
and experiences. Creative work is now underway in this exciting
field, and the aromaComposer is positioned to be an integral player
in this new market.
So, what does the future of aromatherapy look
like?
Truly … the sky's the limit!
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