The Therapeutic Benefits of Essential Oils

Essential oils are distillations of plant materials primarily acquired through a steaming process of distillation that separates and purifies the oils. More than 3,000 plants have been distilled into essential oils. These oils are commonly used in the creation of fragrances, perfumes, soaps, candles, as food enhancers, in incense and for medicinal and therapeutic benefits.

Aromatherapy

• The most common application of essential oils for therapeutic benefits in the United States is with aromatherapy. According to NaturesGift.com, essential oils are diluted at a rate of 15 drops per one ounce of carrier oil. The diluted oil is then used as part of a spa treatment that might include massage, baths and the burning or atomizing of oils. Some practitioners also use spritzers and others use humidifiers to propagate a scent into the treatment environment.

Considerations

• Aromatherapy is one of the fastest-growing areas of alternative medicine, particularly with the nursing community, according to a 1997 study by M. Lis-Balchin in The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. Lis-Balchin notes that there is some resistance in the aromatherapy community to in-depth study of how essential oils and, more specifically, how the treatments that fall under the umbrella of aromatherapy work. There is strong "evidence that essential oils can act as an anti-microbial or antioxidant agent or have a pharmacological effect on various tissues." But there isn't any evidence that these properties can be delivered through massages or bathing.

Potential

• Many aromatherapy treatments include counseling, listening and advice as well as the massage, and Lis-Balchin notes that patients being seen by conventional biomedical doctors are seldom given the type of attention that alternative practitioners give their clients. Validation, reassurance and counseling, added to an atmosphere and treatment designed to relax and reduce stress, is likely to reflect improvement in how those clients feel after treatment. Such subjective opinions describing improvement doesn't mean that the oil is the cause of this improvement.

Aroma Science

• There is significant scientific evidence supporting the aroma science application of essential oils, according to Lis-Balchin. Inhaled essential oils like camphor through oil-soaked scarves worn about the face and mouth helped doctors protect themselves against fungal and bacterial infections during the Black Death when they visited patients. Some essential oils are well known anti-microbial and antioxidant agents, and some have been shown to slow the aging process in animals. Lis-Balchin goes on to say that rubifacients, which are briskly rubbed into the skin at the site of pain, are the basis for Vicks and Tiger Balsam.

Benefits

• Eucalyptus globulur, pine needle and camphor are well known for relieving symptoms of respiratory problems such as cough and congestion, Lis-Balchin says, and fennel, dill and caraway are used as well as peppermint in remedies for indigestion, flatulence and dyspepsia. Many essential oil vapors are known to induce sedative or stimulant affects. Other essential oils are already used in conventional medicine to treat gallstones and ureteric stones. However, these treatments using essential oils are either inhaled or applied internally; none of these treatments is absorbed through the skin as the mechanism of delivery. Lis-Balchin notes that the practitioners of aromatherapy use very small amounts of essential oil in their treatments, and how these low doses might work remains unknown. He goes on to say that, despite the lack of studies on some aspects of essential oil use, it is recommended that aromatherapy be used as a complementary alternative treatment along with conventional biomedicine and that, in some cases, it can be used on its own.