Relieving Stress with Aromatherapy

I haven't always had a high regard for aromatherapy.

Like many American men of my age, I harbored a prejudice against accepting the healing potential of anything so, well, frilly and feminine. A good stiff drink or a full-fat meal always struck me as a more likely way to relieve stress than something as frou-frou as aromatherapy, and I had sympathy for anyone who would choose drink or drugs, although I didn't choose them for myself.

But about 20 years ago I realized I was wrong, when I was confronted with the first clinical evidence for the efficacy of aromatherapy, and I began using it myself.

What evidence is there that aromatherapy could possibly relieve stress?

Some of the earliest scientific research of the potential of aromatherapy for relieving stress was funded by Japanese companies that make scented bath soaps. These companies were looking for a legitimate way to claim that taking a long, warm, luxurious bath with their products was more relaxing than taking a long, warm, luxurious bath just with bubble bath. Naturally, when the scientists funded by these firms started publishing their research in the early 1990's they published in Japanese, and most of the research was still published in Japanese when I started following this topic in 2000. Even at a meeting to discuss their findings I attended in Hawaii that year, the discussion was still in Japanese and I had to hire a translator. However, a steady flow of over 140 studies of aromatherapy for stress has entered the English-language scientific literature. Here are a few of the findings:

• In the United States, nurses studied aromatherapy before doctors became interested. The earliest studies of healing scent focused on the use of the method for controlling outbreaks of acne, eczema, contact dermatitis, and psoriasis that were triggered by emotional stress.
• Later nurses started using aromatherapy as a remedy for general anxiety in the hospital, especially in children's wards.
• In 1997, the Japanese scientists I would later meet started studying essential oils of lemon, labdanum, oak moss, and tubrose as a rescue remedy for the immune system in lab animals exposed to stress. They found that, at least in mice, lemon and labdanum could restimulate the production of white blood cells after they were wiped out by stress.
• In the late 1990's, the British National Health Service started using aromatherapy in break rooms used by nurses and other hospital caregivers to lower their stress levels.
• About the same time, Japanese hospitals started using aromatherapy with lavender to reduce vomiting and nausea in chemotherapy patients.
• Between 2000 and 2005, a number of hospitals started using aromatherapy to reduce pain and anxiety in labor and delivery rooms, for both the mother and the father.
• In 2007, a clinical trial concluded that essential oils of rosemary and lavender could reduce the production of the stress hormone cortisol in humans.

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• In 2008, Japanese scientists found that lavender could relax coronary arteries to improve heart function.
• In 2010, a research study found that bergamot (the dried citrus added to Earl Grey Tea) reduces stress.
• In 2013, a study found that aromatherapy reduces anxiety of patients inside MRI machines.
• More recently, scientists have found that lemon oil reduces agitation in Alzheimer's disease.

There are currently over 140 studies published in the medical literature that support the use of aromatherapy for stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. But how and why should any of this work?

The Secrets of Effective Use of Aromatherapy for Stress and PTSD

One of the most important things to know about how aromatherapy works is that the more you know about it, the better it works for you.

That doesn't mean that aromatherapy operates strictly on the basis of a placebo effect. One of the ways that scientists know that is that choosing the scent makes a difference. Aromas that aren't "supposed" to work typically don't. For instance, lavender was thought to reduce anxiety and coconut was thought to have no effect on anxiety. When researchers exposed volunteers to lavender scent, coconut scent, or water, they found that lavender reduced anxiety, but coconut increased it. Getting a mental boost from aromatherapy may occur just because you like the smell, but reduction in anxiety seems to depend on specific, neurological pathways that are activated by specific, measurable doses of aromatherapy.

There's no scent that is better understood than lavender

Lavender was the original scent used in aromatherapy. In 1937 the French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse burned his hand while working in a perfume laboratory. Knowing lavender was used in medicine for treating burns and inflammation, he immersed his hand in a container of essence of lavender on his workbench. The burns healed quickly and completely, and the experience inspired Gattefosse to research the healing properties of other aromatic oils.

The essential oils of lavender both stop the perception of pain and halt the inflammatory processes that cause pain.

If you find the scent of lavender intensely relaxing, there is good reason. Scientists at the University of Miami School of Medicine have found inhaling essential oil of lavender alters brain wave patterns, shifting relaxing rhythms from the right brain to the left. British researchers have found that lavender specifically relieves feelings of anger and aggression and anxiety about the future.

Lavender encourages the secretion of bile from the gallbladder, making it easier to digest fats. People who have gallstones should avoid the herb, since it increases flow through the bile duct.

Lavender is also mildly sedating. In laboratory studies with animals, the essential oils of lavender counter the anxiety-inducing effects of caffeine. This property makes the herb especially useful for people whose flatulence is worse under conditions of emotional duress or after drinking coffee.

What if for some reason you just don't like lavender? Scientists have a basic understanding of many other scents. Different aromas act on the brain in different ways before and after different kinds of work.

Probably no one has trouble with the assertion that very few construction workers take a break for Earl Grey tea. Researchers measuring brain responses to scents with an electroencephalograph (EEG) have noted that bergamot, the distinctive aroma in Earl Grey tea is easily smelled before work of any kind, but is almost imperceptible after physical work.

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Orange aroma is appealing before work of any kind, but not as appealing after.

Peppermint is appealing after intellectual activity, but not as appealing after physical activity.

The woodsy smell of juniper berries, used to flavor gin and wild game, is especially appealing after a day of vigorous physical work. Linalool, a class of chemicals providing aroma to basil, clover, grape juice, mint, orange peel, oregano, peppermint, red wine, spearmint, tea tree oil, thyme, and tempura batter, is especially appealing after mental activity, or during bad weather, but not after a workout at the gym.

With a little experimentation, you can find the scents that work for you. Just remember that aromatherapy is meant to be inhaled, not ingested or absorbed. Always smell your aromas, don't drink them or paint them on your skin.