Nostrums: Aromatherapy Rarely Stands Up to Testing
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Published: March 11, 2008
There is little that aromatherapy has not been claimed to help with at one time or another. It is said to reduce pain and anxiety, bring both energy and relaxation and even make the immune system stronger.

But when researchers set out to see if they could prove any of the claims in the lab, they say, most did not pan out.

The researchers, writing online in Psychoneuroendocrinology, did offer evidence that one odor, lemon, really seemed to improve mood. But they found no benefit with pain, stress levels, immune response or healing.

Aromatherapy is a big business, and its roots run deep in folk medicine, say the researchers, led by Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser of Ohio State University.

But proving whether it works is hard, in part because study participants cannot help but know what they are smelling and so may be influenced by expectations.

For this study, the researchers assessed volunteers’ moods and baseline physiological levels at the start of a series of visits. Then they had the volunteers smell lemon oil, lavender oil or water.

Participants were asked to plunge a foot into ice-cold water for minute, as researchers measured their body’s stress reaction. They were also asked to report their pain level. Researchers also removed a layer of skin and watched to see if aromatherapy helped speed healing

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I know for a fact that certain scents make me feel better (say a Choco Chip cookie, fresh from the oven..) 

I don’t know if I would call it aromatherapy, but I know it works!

Aromas like they use just make my head hurt (worse).

Some scents do tend to make folks feel better, but not in a health sense.  For instance, the smell of baked goods (bread, cookies, pies, etc.) can give that relaxing feel of coming home after a long day, or bring back happy memories, which can make one feel better in that sense.  Or scents, as the case may be.
Sorry, I know what I mean, just don’t know if it came across clearly.

When I got my tooth chipped they used a ‘strawberry’ gas mask on me.
I don’t know if it was the smell or the fact that they left the gas on too long, but I threw up quite quickly when they removed it.
*Starts to sing “That Smell” by Lynrd Skrynnerd*

I’ve heard that one of the strongest known scents named as an aphrodisiac is Vanilla....

( Sorta paints a twisted picture of all us males if the smell of Mom’s cooking turns us on…)

I can’t stand the smell in those alternative psychic shops.  They all have the same smell.  I call it the ‘come in and buy something’ blend.

P.S. I have a friend who sells aromatherapy oils.  She makes up blends and spends all winter smelling like a cough lolly to ward against colds and flu.  She still gets sick.

daveprime - 11 March 2008 07:15 PM

( Sorta paints a twisted picture of all us males if the smell of Mom’s cooking turns us on…)

Her name and/or your wife’s name is not Jocasta, is it?