Tuesday, November 23, 2010

What Is Aromatherapy? What Does Aromatherapy Do?

Have you heard about aromatherapy but really don't know what it is? Or are you just confused about where aromatherapy came from and what it's use is? Lets consider a little about the history and uses of aromatherapy.

The term aromatherapy comes from around 1920. At that time a French chemist by the name of Maurice Gattefosse had a vat of lavender oil in his laboratory as he was studying the healing effects of essential oils. There was a fire in his laboratory.

There was a fire at the laboratory and his arm was burnt, so he plunged his arm into the vat of lavender oil, experiencing immediate pain relief from the burns. Not only that but the burns healed very fast and left virtually no scarring.

Other scientist followed up on the work of Maurice Gattefosse during world war 2 when many soldiers were burnt and also experienced all sorts of other life changing wounds. Research was done into the use of essential oils on burns and various other wounds.

In fact, aromatherapy has been around for thousands of years under various names. It has always been the art of using various oils from plants and the scents that those oils produced for very pleasant and sometimes healing effects on people with health conditions.

However, it is not true that aromatherapy "cure" any disease. However, the use of aromatherapy is in helping disease sufferers cope with their various diseases and to improve their mental state. Whilst this is helpful in the overall treatment aromatherapy does not cure illnesses.

It seems that there are indeed a range of psychological benefits from the beautiful scents derived from essential plant oils and these psychological benefits to assist sufferers of illnesses to cope with their disease. Whilst aromatherapy does not cure the disease it does elevate the mood, reduce fear and stress and relax disease sufferers. This helps them cope with the illness.

And in some cases it can also help reduce their dependence on some prescription drugs, for example some pain killers, sleeping tablets, indigestion cures, skin care solutions and so on.

Particular scents have a different effect on different people. Do you find, for example, that a perfume that relaxes you that you love just doesn't do it for your friends? Everyone has a different reaction to various scents, and so aromatherapy is a very personal thing. And many people apply the principles of aromatherapy to their lives without even knowing it. For example, many use various oils, perfumes and lotions with all sorts of soothing scents in their homes because the nice smell makes them feel good. That's aromatherapy at work.

So if you have a disease that you are confronting, and wondering about the role of aromatherapy, don't investigate aromatherapy hoping that it will be a magic cure for all your ills. But don't discount it either, it can do wonders for your moods and for your emotional and mental state, and these can be no less important in some cases. Aromatherapy can, and will often, make a big difference to how your illness, or the cure, progresses.

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