How Aromatherapy Works
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Introduction
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Aromatherapy is the alternative practice of using essential oils from plant materials to produce emotional or physical responses in the human body. Most commonly this procedure is used in the alternative medicine community for the treatment of mental and some physical disorders--although not enough research has been done to show that this process has any scientific healing basis.
Olfactory System
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The process of aromatherapy is believed to work by stimulating the olfactory system in the nasal cavity. Your olfactory system is made up of groups of olfactory nerves which have a direct connection to the body's limbic system. When essential oils are placed near the nose, the smell of the oil is believed to stimulate the olfactory nerves.
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Limbic System
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The limbic system is the part of the brain made up by the amygdala, hypothalamus and limbic cortex. Along with your sense of smell, the limbic system is also responsible for other bodily functions such as behavior, emotion and memory. Once the essential oils activate the olfactory nerves in the nasal cavity, the response is directly sent to the limbic system. The theory behind aromatherapy is that not only does your sense of smell get activated with aromatherapy, but also the other areas of the limbic system. If this theory is correct, aromatherapy may be used to treat disorders that partially stem from the limbic system, such as depression and anxiety.
Association
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Since the limbic system is associated with memory, especially your long-term memory, it is no surprise that aromatherapy may also have some effect by associating smells with past pleasant experiences. For example, the smell of lavender may remind you of spending time with your mother in the garden, causing your body to relax and increase pleasant mood feelings. Unfortunately, smells can also be related to bad memories, causing an opposite bad reaction to occur when the limbic system is stimulated by the offending smell.
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References
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