Have you thought about using aromatherapy, but weren't sure if it was all a bunch of hooey? Has anyone scientifically studied aromatherapy? Once you find out what aromatherapy can do for you, you’ll be checking out all the cool scents out there.
Aromatherapy is when you use smells to improve your body and mental state. It's possible to stimulate specific physical reactions by using scents. Smell is a powerful sense; it goes directly to the emotional center of your brain, creating very distinct reactions. That’s why you feel nostalgic when you smell your mother’s perfume (even in a different location, on a different person) or freshly cut grass.
One of the most trusted of the aromatherapy studies shows that lavender has a very powerful affect on you physically. Lavender actually calms you physically by lowering your blood pressure and slowing your heart rate. This why massage therapists put lavender in their massage oils--to help your body relax. Some nursing homes use lavender-scented lotions to massage the hands of patients with dementia to help them calm down and behave appropriately. Another option is geranium esential oil, since that also slows heart rate and lowers blood pressure.
Another interesting aromatherapy find is that peppermint is quite a potent scent. Peppermint sharpens your mental focus, enabling you to concentrate and feel alert. One study evaluated kids who chewed gum while testing; the kids who chewed peppermint gum outscored the kids who chewed other flavors.
A lot of people use grapefruit essential oil because it is supposed to work as an appetite suppressant. In one study, it was discovered that men who were asked to guess a woman’s age after meeting her guessed her as younger if she was wearing grapefruit essential oils than if she wasn’t wearing any scent.
However, you have to be careful when choosing aromatherapy products. Synthetic scents do not have the same effect as essential oils. And you'll want to choose high grade essential oils off the knock off low grade oils. You can buy the expensive high grade essential oil and then use just a teensy bit in a base oil like almond oil or in a lotion.
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