Medical Uses of Aromatherapy and Essential Oils

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The first part of the term aromatherapy can be a little misleading. Aroma is usually associated with the sense of smell but aromatherapy is more that just smell.

While it is true that the primary method of delivering the medicinal properties of the essential oils used in aromatherapy is through smell, they are also delivered by being massaged into the skin. Sometimes…VERY rarely….they are ingested. Ingestion of an essential oil should never be undertaken except under the direction of a trained aromatherapist.

There are over 500 different essential oils that are extracted from the leaves, stems, root or bark of various trees, flowers, plants and shrubs. Each essential oil is different. And each has its own uses for fighting different diseases or different physical and emotional situations. Some essential oils, for example, promote healing by reducing swelling. Others are effective for fighting fungal infections. Other essential oils are used to relieve depression, anxiety or fear. Some essential oils calm while other essential oils are stimulative.

Aroma Therapy and its essential oils are once again being used for many medical uses.  In addition to herbs, vitamins, and minerals, essential oils are returning to active use. Some alternative practitioners are using aromatherapy in combination with acupuncture.

The essential oil that is derived from oranges contains a very large quantity of ester. Ester has a noticeable calming effect. An orange blossom wedding bouquet carried by a bride represents the peace and harmony that she will bring to her new home.

Significant scientific research is being conducted but there is not yet a definitive answer as to just how aromatherapy works or why. The sense of smell is one of the five senses that most humans are born with. But it is also the one that is the most underdeveloped and underused. It may be one of the most primal, possible predating others in our ancient evolution according to some scientist.

Researchers have concluded that certain aromas affect our brains in various ways. It is easier to see why aromatherapy that is applied by the means of massage into the skin has a direct effect on the body than why inhaling the scents has such a direct effect. But it is a fact that both methods of delivery have proven to be effective, even though the reason and exact process remains elusive.

Almost all modern day prescription medications have some basis in ancient herbal medicine. In our modern world, scientists have learned how to reproduce the properties of herbal plants that have been used successfully for thousands of years artificially. They can make synthetic copies of the elements that make herbs work. The problem with these copies is that they often cause many unwanted and often dangerous side effects that the natural versions don’t.

In our very modern twenty-first century world, many people are returning to the use of the herbal versions of the synthetic medicines prescribed by physicians in order to avoid some of the undesirable side effects. Aromatherapy is just one of the ways that these herbal remedies can be used.

One thing that aromatherapists and those who use aromatherapy are very grateful to modern science for is that better, more efficient methods of extracting the essential oils from the plants, flowers shrubs and trees have been developed.

Today the quality and purity of the essential oils available to aroma therapists and you is exceptional.

Hospitals as well as health spas are making use of aromatherapy’s healing properties today and there will be more every day. Aromatherapy is increasingly used for such diverse purposes as treating bacterial and fungal infections to easing the pain of labor and hastening birth.