Health Scent to Lower Stress Levels and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are very common diseases in the modern complicated world. But it seams such an alternative form of medicine as aromatherapy may have the answer to the problem.

There was a study published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showing stress and worry can be relieved by simple smelling of specific fragrances.

Healing properties of fragrances

The above-mentioned research was conducted on rats. All animals were divided in two groups both of which were exposed to stressing factors. One group of animals was allowed to smell specific fragrance while the other group was control and didn’t receive any aromatherapy. Researchers used linalool as an aromatic compound in the study. Linalool is a terpene alcohol of natural origin obtained from different spices plants and flowers, in particular from mints, rosewood and citrus fruits. As the result rats that could smell the linalool showed smaller amount of biochemical changes inherent to stress condition. Besides researchers discovered that the genes in charge for the reaction to stress weren’t triggered in this group of rats.

Could this approach be used to ease the stress in humans?

Stress mechanisms in humans are a lot more difficult than in rats, but the possibility of easing worry and anxiety by means of aromatherapy certainly deserves further studying. Fragrance therapy opens great opportunities to discard chemical drugs and to use natural products in stress conditions treatment. The next step for researchers will be comparing the effect from different natural scents to find the one suiting the purpose of relieving a person from stress better. If successful these researches will lead to creation of natural extracts and essential oils which can be used to ease nervous tension and worrying.

Scent therapy in history

Using fragrances to reduce stress isn’t something new for aromatherapists since therapeutic properties of different natural scents were used traditionally to create good mood and calm one down though such approach hasn’t had enough scientific backup until now. Scents of ylang ylang, lavender, roses, geranium, jasmine, neroli or sweet orange were used historically to recover from stress, relax and refresh mind and body. Besides the floral aromas specialists recommend to use scents that bring you back to the childhood or to some comforting cozy environment. These can be smells of homemade chicken soup or flavorous pancakes with syrup.

Can aromatherapy be used as medication?

Studies show that fragrances certainly have some effect on human mind and stress reduction but further researches should be done to determine which scents are better in dealing with worry and anxiety and to create a natural medication for use in stress treatment.