What Does Aromatherapy Do And What Is It?

Aromatherapy may be something that you've heard about but don't know very much about. You may like to know more about aromatherapy so I'd like to tell you a little of the history and applications for aromatherapy.

The term aromatherapy comes from around 1920. At that time a French chemist by the name of Maurice Gattefosse had a vat of lavender oil in his laboratory as he was studying the healing effects of essential oils. There was a fire in his laboratory.

One of the results of fire at the laboratory was that his arm was burnt so he put his arm into the back of lavender oil. The experienced immediate pain relief and found that the burns healed extremely fast without scarring.

Other scientist followed up on the work of Maurice Gattefosse during world war 2 when many soldiers were burnt and also experienced all sorts of other life changing wounds. Research was done into the use of essential oils on burns and various other wounds.

The art of aromatherapy under different names has been around for thousands of years. It is the art of using scents from various plant substances, now essential oils, to produce pleasant and sometimes healing effects on people with various conditions.

Whilst aromatherapy has restorative properties it is not considered to be a "cure" for any illnesses. Rather it is geared towards helping sufferers cope with their conditions and to help improve their psychological stresses by improving their mental states. If it is claimed that aromatherapy actually cures illnesses this is incorrect.

However it does seem that using the aromas from essential oils does have a wide range of psychological benefits and this does indeed help sufferers of a wide range of illnesses improve their condition by improving their ability to cope with the disease. Whilst aromatherapy cannot cure a disease it can elevate the mood, reduce psychological symptoms of fear and stress and pain and relax sufferers. All of this helps them deal with the illness.

And in some cases it can also help reduce their dependence on some prescription drugs, for example some pain killers, sleeping tablets, indigestion cures, skin care solutions and so on.

Particular scents have a different effect on different people. Do you find, for example, that a perfume that relaxes you that you love just doesn't do it for your friends? Everyone has a different reaction to various scents, and so aromatherapy is a very personal thing. And many people apply the principles of aromatherapy to their lives without even knowing it. For example many use various oils, perfumes and lotions with all sorts of soothing scents in their homes because the nice smell makes them feel good. That's aromatherapy at work.

Maybe it's you that has an illness that you are dealing with. I won't claim that aromatherapy will be a magic cure. It isn't. However don't give up on aromatherapy just because it won't cure the disease. It can still do many magical things fir your overall psychological well-being and mental state. It is that affect will help you deal with your illness.

I have a complete book on my website explaining all about Aromatherapy

Peter offers 2 books about Aromatherapy on his website http://www.heavenlyaromatherapy.com/ which together make up a complete Aromatherapy How To

categories: aromatherapy,essential oils,plant oils,flower essences,aromatherapy how to,medicine,disease,health conditions,alternative medicine,health,family