At my apartment, I absolutely love to have a candle burning. It calms me down and makes my entire home smell like a vanilla pumpkin (aka amazing), or a Christmas tree, depending on the season. People oftentimes talk about the association of smells with certain emotions and feelings. This post isn’t my way of advocating for people to get a dank smelling candle, though if you don’t have one, I would highly recommend investing. I wanted to take some time to talk about one smell in particular— lavender.
In my mind, I always think of lavender as the scent that puts me to sleep in an instant. Though lavender has so many more beneficial aspects than just enhancing my sleeping capabilities. This study actually examined lavender’s impact on the nervous system as it is shown to be a potential treatment for certain neurological disorders (Koulivand et al., 2013).
This study was conducted on rats and found that inhalation of the lavender essential oil or oral administration of lavender somewhat blocked muscarinic and nicotinic receptors, resulting in anti-pain effects of lavender (Koulivand et al., 2013). Furthermore, lavender was discovered to inhibit or reduce the severity of seizures in male mice (Koulivand et al., 2013). These results prompt further studies that would examine lavender as a potential treatment to Alzheimer’s disease due to anticholinergic activity (Koulivand et al., 2013).
A study done on human subjects additionally found that people with lavender aromatherapy had reduced levels of psychological distress (Koulivand et al., 2013). While these studies are still far from determining the impact of lavender on Alzheimer’s disease, this scent has many promising uses moving forward.
If nothing else, put some lavender essential oil in a diffuser before an anatomy quiz and see how you feel for yourself!
Koulivand, P. H., Khaleghi Ghadiri, M., & Gorji, A. (2013). Lavender and the nervous system. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2013, 681304. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/681304
Hi Allie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing such an interesting topic! Aside from neurological disorders, I think one of the most underrated aspects of aromatherapy is in its stress-reducing capabilities (especially during this awful pandemic). It seems that lavender usually operates as the gold-standard when it comes to acting on the nervous system and its functionality in emotions and feelings, but I would interested to find out what other compounds or scents could regulate other neurological pathways? I personally find sandalwood, bergamot, and neroli to be some of my personal favorites!
CAB Direct. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://www.cabdirect.org/?target=%2fcabdirect%2fabstract%2f20063198346
While I don’t have any candles at home, I think I will invest in some lavender essential oils as I now believe in their therapeutic impacts. As mentioned, lavender specifically has many positive benefits especially in regard to sleep and relaxation. It’s reported to have stimulating effects on the parasympathetic nervous system which as we know is involved in resting and reabsorptions of crucial nutrients. One study even compared medical treatments to aromatherapy in terms of reducing anxiety and it was found that aromatherapy was just as efficient as the medical treatment. In conclusion, Aromatherapy has a wide range of functions such as promoting physical, mental, and even psychological health. Therefore, I will take you up on that offer to use aromatherapy before the anatomy exam during finals week.
ReplyDeleteKaradag, E., Samancioglu, S., Ozden, D., Bakir, E. (2015). Effects of aromatherapy on sleep quality and anxiety of patients. Nursing in Critical Care, 22(2), 105-112. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1111/nicc.12198