Essential Oils

A Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements of the Diploma Beauty Therapy by Lissa+ Nguyen 18th Septrmbre 2013 The Australian College MHM EDUCATION & TRAINING BROADWAY
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Aromatherapy is the practice of using the natural oils extracted from flowers, bark, stems, leaves, roots or other parts of a plant to enhance psychological and physical well-being. Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of altering a person's mind, mood, cognitive function or health. The actual ability to smell is highly linked to memory. Research has shown that when areas of the brain connected to memory are damaged, the ability to identify smells is actually impaired. In order to identify a scent, you must remember when you have smelled it before and then connect it to visual information that occurred at the same time. According to some research, studying information in the presence of an odor actually increases the vividness and intensity of that remembered information when you smell that odor again.

The inhaled aroma from these "essential" oils is widely believed to stimulate brain function. Essential oils can also be absorbed through the skin, where they travel through the bloodstream and can promote whole-body healing. A form of alternative medicine, aromatherapy is gaining momentum. It is used for a variety of applications, including pain relief, mood enhancement and increased cognitive function. How the sense of smell works The sense of smell, just like the sense of taste, is a chemical sense. They are called chemical senses because they detect chemicals in the environment, with the difference being that smell works at dramatically larger distances than that of taste.

Essence This is a natural living substance: the living element of a plant which is captured and capsulate. The collection of essential oils has to be at a specific time so the quality should not be affected.

Distillation is the most prominent method used to extract aromatherapy oils, however. This technique involves steaming the plant matter until it breaks down. The byproduct of this breakdown phase is the plant's fragrant oil, which is cooled, separated from the water and finally filtered into its pure essential oil

When the essential oil is extracted via the expression method, it is actually pressed from the plant source the same way lemon juice is pressed from a lemon.

Essential oils, or aromatherapy oils, are the fragrant essence of a plant. These highly concentrated liquid oils are the foundation of aromatherapy, which is based on the idea that the aromatic oil from a plant has healing properties.+Essential oils should not be confused with perfumes or other fragrance oils

Some essential oils such as tea tree[1] have demonstrated anti-microbial effects, but there is still a lack of clinical evidence demonstrating efficacy against bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. Evidence for the efficacy of aromatherapy in treating medical conditions remains poor, with a particular lack of studies employing rigorous methodology,[2] but some evidence exists that essential oils may have therapeutic potential.[3]

How does aromatherapy massage work? The nostrils are attached to a part of the brain called the limbic system. The limbic system controls emotions and influences the nervous system and hormones. When you inhale essential oil molecules, messages are transmitted to the limbic system and affect heart rate, stress level, blood pressure, breathing, memory, digestion, and the immune system. Essential oils are also believed to be absorbed through the skin. Two basic mechanisms are offered to explain the purported effects. One is the influence of aroma on the brain, especially the limbic system through the olfactory system.[13] The other is the direct pharmacological effects of the essential oils.[14] While precise knowledge of the synergy between the body and aromatic oils is often claimed by aromatherapists, the efficacy of aromatherapy remains unproven. However, some preliminary clinical studies of aromatherapy in combination with other techniques show positive effects. Aromatherapy does not cure conditions, but helps the body to find a natural way to cure itself and improve immune response. Smell and taste let us sample the chemicals around us for information. But smell is different from all the other senses in a very special way. A smell from your distant past can unleash a flood of memories that are so intense and striking that they seem real - and we're getting close to understanding why.

. An oil is "essential" in the sense that it carries a distinctive scent, or essence, of the plant. Essential oils do not form a distinctive category for any medical, pharmacological, or culinary purpose.+Oils are volatilized or diluted in a carrier oil and used in massage, diffused in the air by anebulizer, heated over a candle flame, or burned as incense. Importantly, the olfactory cortex is embedded within the brains limbic system and amygdala, where emotions are born and emotional memories stored. Thats why smells, feelings and memories become so easily and intimately entangled, and why the simple act of washing dishes recently made Dr. Herzs cousin break down and cry. The smell of the dish soap reminded her of her grandmother, said Dr. Herz, author of The Scent of Desire.

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Essential oils stimulates the powerful sense of smell. It is known that odors we smell have a significant impact on how we feel. In dealing with patients who have lost the sense of smell, doctors have found that a life without fragrance can lead to high incidence of psychiatric problems such as anxiety and depression. We have the capability to distinguish 10,000 different smells. It is believed that smells enter through cilia (the fine hairs lining the nose) to the limbic system, the part of the brain that controls our moods, emotions, memory and learning. Although some are suspicious or dismissive towards the use of essential oils in healthcare or pharmacology,[7] essential oils retain considerable popular use, partly in fringe medicine and partly in popular remedies. Therefore it is difficult to obtain reliable references concerning their pharmacological merits.

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Many common essential oils have medicinal properties that have been applied in folk medicine since ancient times and are still widely used today. For example, many essential oils have antiseptic properties.[14] Many are also claimed to have an uplifting effect on the mind. Such claims, if meaningful, are not necessarily false but are difficult to quantify in the light of the sheer variability of materials used in the practice.

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Each essential oil has different healing properties. For example, some calm while others energize. Here are some widely used essential oils and their properties: calming chamomile, lavender, geranium uplifting ylang ylang, clary sage, rose, neroli energizing rosemary cleansing rosemary decongesting eucalyptus, pine, tea tree

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Why do people get aromatherapy massage? Aromatherapy massage is particularly suited to conditions involving stress or improving emotionally-related conditions. Stress and stress-related conditions such as insomnia Headache Digestive disorders Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) Back pain

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Summary

Aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of essential oils (also known as volatile oils) from plants (flowers, herbs, or trees) for the improvement of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Aromatherapy is used with other complementary treatments (e.g., massage and acupuncture) as well as with standard treatment. Essential oils are volatile liquid substances extracted from aromatic plant material by steam distillation or mechanical expression; oils produced with the aid of chemical solvents are not considered true essential oils. Aromatherapy is not widely administered via ingestion. The effects of aromatherapy are theorized to result from the binding of chemical components in the essential oil to receptorsin the olfactory bulb, impacting the brains emotional center, the limbic system. Topical application of aromatic oils may exert antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects.

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Conclusion

The vital element in any aromatherapy treatment is the pure essential oil. These oils are very different from the heavy oils we use for cooking; they are concentrated essences, much lighter than water and highly flammable. They evaporate quickly, so they are usually mixed with other ingredients to trap their effectiveness. Because they are so concentrated, essential iols are measured in drops. By using the beneficial properties of the oils we may promote good health and emotional well being. These potent, volatile essences are natures gift to mind and body

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References Wilcock A, Manderson C, Weller R, et al.: Does aromatherapy massage benefit patients with cancer attending a specialist palliative care day centre? Palliat Med 18 (4): 287-90, 2004. [PubMed] Soden K, Vincent K, Craske S, et al.: A randomized controlled trial of aromatherapy massage in a hospice setting. Palliat Med 18 (2): 87-92, 2004. [PubMed] Wilkinson S, Aldridge J, Salmon I, et al.: An evaluation of aromatherapy massage in palliative care. Palliat Med 13 (5): 409-17, 1999. [PubMed]

Wilkinson S: Aromatherapy and massage in palliative care. Int J Palliat Nurs 1 (1): 21-30, 1995.
Corner J, Cawler N, Hildebrand S: An evaluation of the use of massage and essential oils on the wellbeing of cancer patients. Int J Palliat Nurs 1 (2): 6773, 1995.
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Graham PH, Browne L, Cox H, et al.: Inhalation aromatherapy during radiotherapy: results of a placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial. J Clin Oncol 21 (12): 2372-6, 2003. [PubMed] Ndao DH, Ladas EJ, Cheng B, et al.: Inhalation aromatherapy in children and adolescents undergoing stem cell infusion: results of a placebo-controlled double-blind trial. Psychooncology 21 (3): 247-54, 2012. [PubMed] Potter P, Eisenberg S, Cain KC, et al.: Orange interventions for symptoms associated with dimethyl sulfoxide during stem cell reinfusions: a feasibility study. Cancer Nurs 34 (5): 3618, 2011 Sep-Oct. [PubMed]

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