Essential Oils 101: Rosemary and Lavender Reduce Cortisol Levels & More

Monday, June 23, 2008

Rosemary and Lavender Reduce Cortisol Levels & More

I just found an article abstract about the calming effects of smelling rosemary or lavender essential oils. It states that simply smelling dilutions of rosemary or lavender essential oils will decrease the stress hormone cortisol. In addition, it will increase free radical scavenging activity in saliva. All this occurs within 5 minutes!

Essential oils continue to be researched for a variety of health benefits. It's so refreshing to find prestigious journals, like Psychiatry Research publishing articles like the one cited here.
http://www.psy-journal.com/article/S0165-1781(06)00011-4/abstract

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Brief History of Essential Oils

Aromatherapy, the therapeutic use of pure essential oils for benefiting the body, mind and spirit, is an ancient practice. Use of essential oils can be traced back 5000 years to the ancient Indian practice of Ayurveda. From ancient Egypt mummification evidence, hieroglyphs and the remains of scented oils from tombs confirm the historic use of essential oils for healing and spiritual practice. In Pakistan an ancient distillation apparatus, a still, has been unearthed.

Four thousand years ago the Chinese used aromatherapy preparations. These are recorded in the Materia Medica of Li Shih-Chen. He described nearly 2000 herbs and 20 essential oils.

Over three thousand years ago ancient Hebrews used essential oils in anointing ceremonies. Early Christians valued essential oils. Through Biblical references we associate Frankincense, Myrrh and Spikenard with Jesus. In Islam, Mohammed valued the use of essential oils. His first wife, Khadija owned a camel caravan that transported gums, resins, spices and other aromatics around the Arabian Peninsula and beyond.

Twenty-four hundred years ago the Greek physician Hippocrates, the father of medicine, recommended daily massages with aromatic oils. Two thousand years ago the Romans brought the use of aromatics, including essential oils, to a high art. Traveling with Nero's Roman legions as a botanist Dioscorides, a Greek physician, wrote De Materia Medica the first standard medical reference work. It was used for 1,500 years.

Over a thousand years ago Muslims came into contact on a large scale with Europeans. A Muslim physician Abu ibn Sina, known as Avicenna, had great influence with both Christians and Muslims. He wrote Canon of Medicine and refined water distillation. This made it possible to extract pure essential oils from plants on a larger scale.

From the 9-15th centuries there was a medical school in Salerno, Italy advocating the use of aromatics, including essential oils. In the 11th Century Hildegard von Bingen, mystic and Benedictine abbess, taught about plants and their uses. She wrote numerous books, including Physica, which contains 200 chapters on plants.

In the 13th Century the Arab physician Al-Samarqandi wrote on the aromatherapeutic use of herbs and flowers. Late in the 15th Century the publication of The Great Surgery Book by Paracelsus described a fifth element, "quinta essentia" or essential oil, which he called the soul of the plant.

The Renaissance arrived heralding the work of Hieronymous Braunchweig, AKA Jerome of Brunswick. A German physician, he wrote several books on plant distillation. He referenced 25 essential oils in his last book, Neu Volkmen Distillierbuch. He was one of many Germans at the time writing about essential oils and their benefits.

The Golden Age of Herbalists, as the 17th Century was known saw the unfortunate split between doctors and herbalists. In the 18th Century commercial production of essential oils began in Grasse, France. In the 19th Century it was noted that tuberculosis was virtually absent, along with other respiratory diseases from flower processors in France. This lead to the first laboratory tests on the anti-bacterial properties of essential oils.

The 20th Century experienced an explosion in researching essential oils. Drs. Gatti and Cajola researched the psychotherapeutic applications. Rene Maurice Gattafosse coined the modern term aromatherapy. Dr. Jean Valnet, a French army surgeon in WWII used essential oils to treat burns, wounds and for psychiatric problems.

There have been many more contributors to the advancement and understanding of pure therapeutic essential oils. These include Marguerite Maury in England, Paolo Rovesti in Italy, and Penfold in Australia. Drs La Praz, Gelaiche, Girault and Pradal in France ushered in aromatherapy as a complementary medicine.

The English aromatherapy movement has produce many published authors and teachers: Robert Tisserand, Patricia Davis, Shirley and Len Price, Valerie Worwood and Julia Lawless to name just a few.

In the United States Kurt Schnaubelt, Michael Scholes, Valerie Cooksley, John Steele, Eva-Marie Lind and Ixchelle Leigh continue to educate and expand the field of true aromatherapy.