Aromatherapy uses essential oils extracted from natural plants and the term means “treatment using scents.” Using botanical oils such as rose, lemon, lemon, and peppermint can change your mood, ease fatigue, promote relaxation, and relieve stress. Aromatherapy has been used for over 6,000 years, but the term was not used until 1930 when the word was coined for the therapeutic use of essential oils. A French chemist was fascinated after using lavender oil in healing his burned hands. The healed hand didn’t have any scars. He started experimenting the use of other essential oils for healing and for the psychological benefits.
During World War II, the essential oils were found to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and pain relieving abilities. They work on the brain by stimulating the olfactory nerves. These oils can be extracted from plants, flowers, trees, fruits, bark seeds, and grasses. In total, there are about 150 different essential oils. They can be used to stimulate your body, help with digestion, used as an antidepressant and expectorant. The maximum benefit is from using oils extracted from pure raw materials. Synthetically made oils are not effective as their all-natural counterparts.
Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing alternative medicine fields. It is used in homes, clinics, and hospitals and even in some shopping malls and waiting rooms. The scent of lavender and rosemary can calm waiting customers and patients.
Easy Aromatherapy Benefits with a Bath
How can you reap the benefits of these scent treatments in your home? One of the easiest ways can be in your bath. Aromatherapy works best when working on the body and mind at the same time. Adding essential oils to your bath can do just that. The oils in your bath can stimulate your sense of smell. Odors have a known impact on how we feel. Some scents can remind us of happy events in our childhood, such as the smell of vanilla from a fresh baked batch of sugar cookies. The smell of a campfire can bring back unpleasant memories of a camp you didn’t enjoy as a child. We can distinguish 10,000 different smells. By placing essential oils in our bath, we are reaping the benefits from both the scent of the oils and the soothing quality of the oils being absorbed into the skin.
A hot and relaxing bath using essential oils can calm stressed bodies, ease tired muscles, and allow you to meditate and think about the many blessings in your life. A few essential oils in a hot, steamy bath can bring you a new enjoyment into an otherwise boring bath time. Meditation, thinking, calming your body, clearing your mind, and concentrating on yourself makes a bath a treat for body, mind, and spirit.
Essential Oils for Sleep and Skin
When you use essential oils in your bath can soothe and refresh you and help you sleep better. Essential oils can also be useful in treating acne and other skin ailments. Soothing the skin and allowing the natural oils to slowly penetrate and soften your skin, you can relieve itching and soreness on your skin.
Mental Relief
Another advantage to a hot soothing bath with natural oils is what it can do for your mind. It relieves stress and other nerve disorders by naturally calming our bodies, and opening our minds. You can create a more stable mental state by allowing the oils to feel calmer and stronger. Some of the oils are considered help in furthering romance. A few drops can help you and your spouse to relax enough to enjoy a healthy, passionate time of intimacy. This is another known stress reliever.
The Benefits of Essential Oils
Fragrant bath salts or bubble baths are not the same as using essential oils. They may form bubbles and make you feel good, but the therapeutic benefits are not necessarily included in this experience. Essential oils can help you enjoy your bath, by feeling the warm water, smelling the wonderful scents and knowing the natural oil is seeping into your body.
Your skin gets a layer of pure essential oils; vapors rising from the hot water enter your olfactory system as well as your lungs. It calms the mind, and help put problems into perspective. If you haven’t tried this wonderful at home treatment, why not buy some essential oils and enjoy a new experience while taking a bath.
