Key Points at a Glance
- People have been producing essential oils from herbs for an estimated 5,000 years.
- Even back then, the oils were most likely used to help people feel better.
- Today, aromatherapy is used for specific purposes—yet many people doubt its effectiveness from a conventional medical perspective.
- Yet science has already provided evidence that essential oils do indeed have positive effects on us, both physically and mentally.
It stands to reason that people prefer pleasant scents to unpleasant odors. Although our sense of smell isn’t as keen as that of other species, it’s perfectly adequate for tasks such as detecting whether food has gone bad. And it’s amazing that certain aromas can put us in a good mood or benefit our health—we don’t even have to consciously perceive these scents to experience these effects. Essential oils are responsible for these positive effects.
What are essential oils?
These are volatile oils derived from natural products. The oils contain aromas that enter the body via monoterpenes. This occurs either through breathing—that is, via the nasal mucosa—or through the skin. For example, when you add essential oils to your bathwater. The blood then carries the active ingredients from the mucous membrane or skin cells to the organs.
Essential oils are extracted from plant tissue; in most cases, this is done through steam distillation. The oils are used, for example, for inhalation, in massages, as bath additives, as medications, as compresses, or in aromatherapy.
How do essential oils work in aromatherapy?
Depending on the plant from which the essential oil is extracted, it can have a stimulating or calming effect and positively influence one’s mood. The oil’s aroma triggers a sensory response that—as has now been scientifically proven—can have mental and physical effects. For example, these scents can alleviate feelings of restlessness or even anxiety, and they’re also effective against the stress that accompanies us in everyday life—stress that we often don’t even notice anymore.
Essential oils can also help with physical ailments. Digestive problems are a good example. In aromatherapy, certain substances can help reduce bloating and nausea. Persistent belching is also bothersome and can be alleviated with specific essential oils through aromatherapy. Just think of baby tummy oil—the oils it contains are massaged onto the tummy and absorbed through the skin cells into the bloodstream. There, they gently relieve the infant’s stomach discomfort.
Last but not least, some essential oils have also been proven effective in fighting colds and their unpleasant symptoms, such as a runny nose, difficulty swallowing, a sore throat, a cough, or a headache.
The History of Aromatherapy
As mentioned at the beginning, humankind has been harnessing the power of herbs and plants for many thousands of years. Most likely, this was done not only for their scent but also for therapeutic purposes. Knowledge was gathered and passed down, and the use of plants was continually refined and adapted to meet people’s needs.
It was ultimately the French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé who introduced aromatherapy to the scientific community. He conducted extensive research on the essences that can be extracted from plants and published his findings on the healing properties of essential oils in a book in 1936 titled *Aromatherapy*.
