We all see trees, plants, leaves, flowers, and stems, almost every day around us. What we see are their fresh green color and beautiful flowers. But it is really fascinating how they are more than just their insight beauty. The extracts of plants and trees have been in use for a long since the Vedic period because of their medicinal and healing properties.
Not only for the purpose of medicines curing physical problems but it also abides the healing properties of mental and emotional problems like anxiety and depression. The extracts of certain plants are believed to have positive healing properties that also affect the people around them.
Gradually understanding the concept of these extracts in a widespread version, and making it available to people in a simplified form for usage, it came out as aromatherapy. In the generation of modern medicine, the name of this treatment first appeared in print, in 1937.
Background of Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is basically based on the usage of aromatic substances, including extracts and essential oils and other things, claiming to improve physical as well as psychological well-being. It is a form of complementary therapy or alternative medicine with not having any evidence-based treatment but is still being a lot more effective.
This therapy is a practice of using natural oils extracted from flowers, leaves, stems, roots, bark, and various other parts of a plant for enhancing the treatment. The use of the essential oils for hygienic, spiritual, or ritualistic purposes goes back a long way to ancient civilizations involving the Chinese, Indians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, Egyptians. The oil extracts were at first used in cosmetics, perfumes, and drugs and were also used for aesthetic pleasure and in the beauty industry. They were luxurious items and in some places were also used as a means of payment.
The oils are not directly ingested, but rather they are inhaled. The inhaled aroma from particular essential oils is believed to be useful for the stimulation of brain functions. The oils can also be absorbed through the skin where they travel through the bloodstream, promoting whole-body healing. It is used for numerous applications, involving pain relief, mood enhancement, and an increase of cognition function. There is a wide variety of essential oils present, each having its own healing properties.
Read about how aromatherapy evolved in these decades.
What Are Essential Oils?
These oils are plant-based, volatile oil that is a mixture of chemical compounds and have the aromatic character of the respective plant. Essential oils are widely used in aromatherapy to bring mental and physical peace and well-being. The oils can be applied or massaged into the skin, inhaled, or immersed in water for use.
Vaporizer solutions that are used in steam vaporizers mostly contain one or more essential oils in low concentrations compared to those used in aromatherapy.
Aromatherapy could prove to be very effective in conditions of- nasal decongestant, disinfectant, toothaches, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, digestive disorders, anxiety, insomnia, and restlessness.
Variety of Oils and Healing Properties
Tea tree Oil- The oil helps in clearing the airways of your skin pores and body. It is very useful in cases of acne and sinusitis as it opens the blockage and helps in curing these types of problems. It can also aid in the quick healing of minor cuts and wounds.
Peppermint Oil- Researchers suggest that peppermint oil is safe, short-term effective treatment for IBS. In addition to reducing IBS symptoms, this oil is also beneficial in nausea, tension headaches, and muscle pains.
Lavender Oil- It is one of the most studied and researched essential oils, as it is observed for having an overabundance of benefits. It helps in reducing anxiety, lightning up the mood, increasing relaxation, and most importantly it helps in getting a night of better sleep. It helps in migraines, insomnia, and anxiety.
It is so effectively beneficial that if someone is suffering from migraine pain, the person can take a bath mixing this oil into warm water or can simply rub a little amount on his/her wrist and smell it for a while and the person in a very short period of time could snooze to a sound sleep.
Eucalyptus Oil- The oil from this plant contains some compounds that make it a very strong disinfectant. People can use it as a natural insect repellant or can also mix it into a cream for soothing sore muscles. It is also very useful in clearing up the respiratory issues.
Rosemary Oil- It helps to recover from the hair loss caused due to alopecia. Massaging the scalp with a combination of few oils including rosemary could help effectively in hair growth.
Citrus Oil- If anyone is undergoing some stressful time and situation, a sniff aroma of the citrus would help in boosting up the mood. Researchers have found that circulating citrus aroma in the room might regulate hormone levels and can help in reducing the doses of anti-depressants in patients suffering from depression.
Clary Sage Oil- It is one of the most effective essential oils used for balancing hormones as it contains phytoestrogens that help in regulating estrogen levels. It is very beneficial in relieving menopausal symptoms as well.
Not all oils are helpful, so read this article about essential oils poisoning to know better.
A Strict ‘No’ to Ingestion of Oils
Many companies who deal with the selling essential oils claim to their customers that they are ‘natural’ and therefore are safe to consume with no dangers at all, which is a total fake assumption to make. Essential oils are strictly prohibited for intake, although they are plant extracts, they should not be consumed directly.
Essential oils are not safe to consume and can cause significant poisoning even in small amounts. Many cases of poisoning have been recorded as a result of their ingestion in children. It is therefore very important to keep in mind that they should be kept out of the reach of children in any case.
Conclusion
As we have now already understood above that even just the essence of some extracts are powerful enough for bringing your healthier version out, both physically and psychologically. Not always it is necessary to ingest products in order to get better. Some processes are slow and they affect the body and mind slyly. We should not always rush behind the short-term immediate effect of any drugs.
Be kind towards your body, mind, and your own self, give yourself time to heal at a slower pace and let everything absorb in accordingly. Bring these things into your daily use. These oils are no different from the incense sticks we use in our homes every day, so just for a change start using the oils simultaneously and who knows how much difference it would make.
Read about the types of plants you should have at home to surround yourself with.
Written By - Pavas Shrigyan
Edited By - Neha Kundu
Social