Aromatherapy Can Relieve Stress

Aromatherapy Essential Oils – Relieve Stress and Feel Better With Aromatherapy

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:40:48 +0000

Aromatherapy is an easy, delightful way to feel good while enhancing your health. This alternative practice contributes to wellness by utilizing our instinctive sense of smell.

Therapeutic aromatherapy can:

o Relieve stress
o Elevate mood
o Promote health.

What’s not to love?

The practice of using fragrant plants to heal is nothing new. It dates back thousands of years and across many cultures. The method of extracting the oil from plants was discovered way back in the Middle Ages. In fact, there is evidence of healing botanical oils used in ancient China, India, and Egypt. Obviously, aromatherapy is not a passing fad!

Exactly what are these precious oils?

Essential oils are the scented liquid extracted from the flowers, leaves, fruits, and grasses of certain plants. Even trees can produce beneficial oils. The natural chemicals that give plants their unique essence, or scent, are removed via steam or pressing. This results in concentrated oils, which form the basis of aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy is defined as: the use essential oils to support and balance the mind, body, and spirit. This occurs by either inhaling the scent or applying the oil to the skin. When using on the skin, essential oil must first be mixed with carrier oil, such as almond oil, jojoba, or grape seed oil.

Warning: Never apply undiluted essential oil directly on the skin. This could cause an adverse reaction.

Aromatherapy Treatment

The human body enjoys a powerful sense of smell. When inhaled, an odor makes its way to the part of the brain that controls moods, memories, and the capacity to learn. Various fragrances are used to produce specific results, such as….

* Peppermint and eucalyptus oils stimulate the mind.
* Lemon and rosemary revitalize a tired body.
* Chamomile and lavender promote relaxation and soothe the spirit.

Aromatherapy is recognized as a complementary medicine that is used in conjunction with traditional medicine. For instance, cancer patients may receive aromatherapy as supportive care while receiving conventional medical treatment. Aromatherapy is not a cure. Rather, it’s a method of improving the quality of life by reducing stress and anxiety.

Can Indoor Fountains and Aromatherapy Help Me Reduce Stress?

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:40:34 +0000

Indoor fountains are certainly beautiful features for any home, but they are also healthy and useful with a number of therapeutic benefits. For additional relaxation, try aromatherapy! As the idyllic sound of flowing water washes over you, inhale the sweet and relaxing aromas of heated essential oils for maximum stress relief and muscle tension alleviation. To better understand how this works, let’s quickly learn about aromatherapy and indoor fountains.

“Aromatherapy” is basically the science (or art, depending on who you ask) of diffusing heat over volatile essential oils to elicit a particular smell. Depending on the oil extract burned, each distinct aroma boasts unique physical and psychological benefits. Some are said to improve concentration and mental clarity, while others have been linked to the alleviation of certain ailments, including respiratory problems and headaches.

By mixing and matching essential oils you can create a number or results. Certain combinations will enhance your focus and calm by promoting increased serotonin production in your brain, while other combinations will help rejuvenate your complexion or improve your immune system. Many oils boast anti-viral, anti-septic, and anti-fungal benefits to increase their therapeutic value.

Indoor fountains also help you relax; these simple-to-install features are gorgeous pieces of artwork, too. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes to match your decorative taste, and they are make up of a variety of different materials, from sturdy and natural slate to epoxy resin, and or elegant copper and stainless steel. Water fountains are normally smaller in size an more versatile than a outdoor garden fountain, they also are less messy.”

Indoor fountains help you relax by producing sound-masking white noise, which drowns out obnoxious external clamor like traffic. Water fountains also make negative ions, through a process where cascading water breaks the bonds holding the H20 molecules together. Then end result is negative ions. By using negative polarity airborne particles such as bioaerosols, dust, and allergens are bonded together. In other words, indoor fountains can purify the air you breathe! This not only promotes improved respiratory function, but it also enhances your body’s natural immunities to disease.

When water fountains and aromatherapy are combined, the result is an amazing combination one-two punch of relaxation therapy. By turning your water fountain on while your burn a floating plate of essential oils in the base. This method is extremely effective for eliminating stress while relaxing your senses. Let the serenity of flowing water and beauty and delicious smells of aromatherpay create a place of total relaxation and peace.

Reduce Stress by Engaging Your Sense of Smell

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:40:20 +0000

Stress makes it all too easy for us to just shut down, and ignore the things that really matter in life. But what if you could reduce your stress just by engaging your sense of smell? It’s been discovered that aromatherapy can produce real, long lasting results. It can soothe frazzled nerves and help you to relax. And there’s nothing you need to do except smell.

Scented baths are also popular ways to relax. Since they relax your body with the warm bath water, they help to take the aromatherapy effect even further. A good long soak in warm bath with a scent such as chamomile is a way better way to relax than eating a Twinkie. To say nothing of the fact that it has no calories (unless you drink it, which you really shouldn’t).

Aromatherapy isn’t spraying perfume onto a pillow. Perfumes are commercial blends of scents, which are NOT the same as aromatherapy oils. They are also known as essential oils, and they’re made from plant extracts.

Some plant extracts have a calming effect. The essential oils that are known to deliver the best stress relief are lavender, patchouli, chamomile and geranium. You’ll also finf that there are several tools available to allow you to put puffs of essential oils into the air around you, so you can have these desired fragrances all through your environment. Or you can just add a few drops to a cotton ball and take a whiff.

Relaxation is not the only possible goal you might have. Maybe you’re feeling sluggish, tired and exhausted because of a particularly stressful situation. The best extracts for shaking off the malaise are peppermint and ginger as well as citrus scents like lemon and lime.

And there are some other neat effects you can garner from essential oils. Rosemary will help your mind feel less clouded, and resolve your confusion a bit. Sandalwood is awesome if you’re suffering from sleeplessness or depression. And juniper berry is excellent if your stresses tend to boil over into anger.

Of course, you should consult a doctor or other suitably qualified person before ingesting any extracts – while aromatherapy can benefit most anyone, there is always the slight chance that it could be an unknown allergy that you might have. It’s better to be safe than sorry, after all. But smelling them should be reasonably safe. Not to mention that aromatherapy can be practiced most anywhere – home, car, possibly even your office (if your co-workers aren’t bothered by it).

Aromatherapy Massage Is Great in Relieving Stress

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:40:09 +0000

Aromatherapy massage is the art of combining a massage method with the use of scented herbs that are great in calming, energizing, and uplifting our body through our emotions. This is believed to have better positive effects on the patient rather than a plain massage therapy as the aromatherapy possesses many healing properties that boost the health recovery of the patient. Aromatherapy massage is common in Ancient China, Japan, India and Egypt as an old practice in soothing and healing people with emotion-related stress.

In our modern times, aromatherapy massage is considered as a mood controlling therapy with the use of essential oils that help our emotion. Modern massage therapists use many different scented candles during an aromatherapy massage to enlighten the mood of their patient and in return releases the bad energy gathered from their stressful day. Most spas also light scented candles all over the place to set a good mood for the whole place. These scented candles have different healing properties as well and are similar with essential oils in controlling the emotions of the patient.

Aside from using essential oils, the technique used for this type of therapeutic massage is similar to the other types of massage therapies which use massage strokes on different parts of the body to remove muscle tensions that result to body pains such as muscle cramps, spasms and sprains as well as a good anti-stress. These massage strokes help in providing an enhanced oxygen circulation as well as removing the formations of lactic and uric acids as well as other types of metabolic wastes that should be removed out of our system. During the massage therapy, the massage therapists will be using up to five different types of essential oils, all of which you have chosen for your own preference.

Knowing what healing properties these essential oils have is essential if you want to have an enjoyable aromatherapy massage as each herb has its own unique properties. They are all highly concentrated plant extracts that have been taken out from all parts of an herbal plant from its roots to its leaves. Unlike perfumes and colognes, these essential oils are 100% natural and taken only from herbal plants in the form of ointments.

Make a good preparation for your aromatherapy massage session and always remember that you never go on a massage therapy with a full stomach or after having a heavy meal. This is not advisable as it is unhealthy and is known to give discomfort to the patient during the massage therapy session.

Make sure that you are comfortable with your massage therapist so that you will have a relaxed and enjoyable session at the spa. You can always ask for a different massage therapist if you feel that you are uncomfortable with your therapist. This is why it is important that you do a careful research and track record check on your massage therapist before deciding on having one. Make sure that he or she is experienced and skilled in this type of job.

Stress Management Strategies – Using Aromatherapy to Help Calm Stress

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:39:55 +0000

Did you know that you can use aromatherapy as part of your stress management strategies? Whilst some are sceptical about the power of alternative therapies to help and heal, aromatherapy has been shown in studies to help calm stress. Read on to find out how you can use aromatherapy to calm and relieve your stress and its symptoms.

Aromatherapy is a method of using scents or aromas, generally produced from plant essential oils, to create balance and healing in the body and mind. Think for a moment about the power of smell. Have you ever been overtaken by a scent that took you straight back to a past memory or reminded you of a person who is long since out of your life? Our sense of smell is very powerful and can produce impressive effects in the body and mind.

Aromatherapy works by stimulating our sense of smell, through the olfactory nerves in our nose. This affects our limbic system which is the part of the brain which regulates our moods, emotions and behaviour. This part of our brain also exerts control over our hormones and stress levels. It is thought to have evolved to manage our fight or flight response, an essential part of our reaction to stress.

It is therefore not surprising that scents can have a powerful effect on state of mind and emotions and, therefore, that certain essential oils should be effective in treating certain states of mind, such as stress. The main method of aromatherapy treatment is by inhalation which invokes the response in the brain specified above. And if our mind is responsible for producing the symptoms of stress in the body, then improving our state of mind can only help our stress symptoms. Studies have shown inhalation of essential oils to reduce blood pressure, pulse rate, subjective stress, anxiety and cortisol levels (the “stress hormone”).[1][2]

Research has shown that our brainwaves are affected by aromatherapy. The frequency of our brainwaves corresponds to our state of activity or relaxation. For example, a brain actively engaged in mental activities would be generating beta brainwaves, whereas alpha brainwaves would indicate a more relaxed state of mind. John Steele and Robert Tisserand showed that when calming oils are inhaled, they alter our brainwaves to a pattern of calmness[3]. Lavender has been found to produce the effect of alpha brainwaves. To calm stress we would want to relax and it is no coincidence that Lavender is one of the most cited essential oils for stress relief.

Another method of applying aromatherapy is through topical application, directly onto the skin. The oils are absorbed into the body through the skin and there is evidence that the chemical compounds contained within have antibacterial and antioxidant properties and a beneficial effect on various tissues.