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Aromatherapy
What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy means "treatment using scents".
It is a holistic treatment of caring for the body with pleasant smelling botanical oils such as rose, lemon, lavender and peppermint. The essential oils are added to the bath or massaged into the skin, inhaled directly or diffused to scent an entire room.
Aromatherapy has been around for 6000 years or more. The Greeks, Romans, and ancient Egyptians all used aromatherapy oils. The Egyptian physician Imhotep recommended fragrant oils for bathing, massage, and for embalming their dead nearly 6000 years ago.
Today patients consult an Aromatherapy advice for conditions such as, the relief of pain, care for the skin, alleviate tension and fatigue and invigorate the entire body. Essential oils can affect the mood, alleviate fatigue, reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. When inhaled, they work on the brain and nervous system through stimulation of the olfactory nerves.
Aromatherapy works the best when it works on the mind and body simultaneously.
Essential oils are aromatic essences extracted from plants, flowers, trees, fruits, bark, grasses and seeds with distinctive therapeutic, psychological, and physiological properties, which improve and prevent illness. There are about 150 essential oils. Most of these oils have antiseptic properties; some are antiviral, anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, antidepressant and expectorant. Other properties of the essential oils which are taken advantage of in aromatherapy are their stimulation, relaxation, digestion improvement, and diuretic properties.
To get the maximum benefit from essential oils, it should be made from natural, pure raw materials. Synthetically made oils do not work.
Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing fields in alternative medicine. It is widely used at home, clinics and hospitals for a variety of applications. Aromatherapists would be consulted for advice on conditions such as pain relief for women in labour pain, relieving pain caused by the side effects of the chemotherapy undergone by the cancer patients, and rehabilitation of cardiac patients.
How they work?
Essential oils stimulate the powerful sense of smell. It is known that odours we smell have a significant impact on how we feel. We have the capability to distinguish 10,000 different smells. It is believed that smells enter through cilia (the fine hairs lining the nose) to the limbic system, the part of the brain that controls our moods, emotions, memory and learning. The mechanism in which these essential oils act on us is not very well understood. What is understood is that they affect our mind and emotions. They leave no harmful residues. They enter into the body either by absorption or inhalation.
How the oils can be used?
Essential oils are very concentrated and should always be used with care and under the supervision of a qualified Aromatherapist. Follow instructions given and do not be tempted to add more drops than recommended. Apart from a few exceptions, they should not be used neat on the skin but first dissolved in a carrier oil, milk, alcohol or water. They must never be taken internally unless under the guidance of a qualified therapist.
They can be used in a variety of ways; the most popular methods being –
- Baths,
- Massage,
- Compress,
- Inhalations,
- Vaporisation
Patients consult an Aromatherapist for conditions such as
Stress related problems, such as anxiety and depression, headaches, insomnia
- Depression
- Loss of sex drive
- Skin problems, such as eczema or dermatitis, athlete’s foot
- Digestive problems, such as IBS, indigestion, constipation
- Hormonal, such as PMT, menopause, mood swings
- Stiff muscles and joints
- Poor circulation
- High/low blood pressure
- Respiratory problems
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Sinus problems
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