Major Role and Benefits of Essential Oils in Aromatherapy

Essential oils basically plant extracts. They're made by steaming or pressing various parts of a plant (flowers, bark, leaves, or fruit) to capture the compounds that produce fragrance. It can take several pounds of a plant to produce a single bottle of essential oil. In addition to creating a scent, essential oils perform other functions in plants, too.

What Is Aromatherapy?

Aromatherapy is the practice of using essential oils for therapeutic benefit. Aromatherapy has been used for centuries. When inhaled, the scent molecules in essential oils travel from the olfactory nerves directly to the brain and especially impact the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain.

Essential oils can also be absorbed by the skin. A massage therapist might add a drop or two of wintergreen to oil to help relax tight muscles during a rubdown. A  skincare company may add lavender to bath salts to create a soothing soak.

Although people claim essential oils are natural remedies for a number of ailments, there's not enough research to determine their effectiveness in human health. Results of lab studies are promising — one at Johns Hopkins found that certain essential oils could kill a type of Lyme bacteria better than antibiotics — but results in human clinical trials are mixed.

Some studies indicate that there's a benefit to using essential oils while others show no improvement in symptoms. Clinical trials have looked at whether essential oils can alleviate conditions such as:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Nausea

• Insomnia

• Low appetite

• Dry mouth

Essential oils can lift your mood and make you feel good with just a whiff of their fragrance. For some people, they may even help alleviate the symptoms of various conditions. For more information on how to incorporate them into a healthy lifestyle, consult an integrative medicine expert.

OilyPod is a humble family-owned business and was founded in 2017 by us, who are avid essential oil enthusiasts. Essential oils have tremendously helped improve the overall well-being of our family, so we started to introduce and share the benefits of essential oils with our close families and friends. Essential oils are often used in aromatherapy, a form of alternative medicine that uses plant extracts and natural elements for the treatment.