What is Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is therefore a holistic practice that acts on physical, mental and spiritual processes through the use of non-oily essences, concentrated in some areas of medicinal plants: flowers, resin, bark, roots, peel, leaves and fruits. These oils are volatile fractions obtained from plants by steam distillation.
Body treatment using aromatic oils dates back to at least 2000 BC. In the Bible, the use of medicinal plants and essences is mentioned, both for religious purposes and for the treatment of diseases. In the Middle Ages, perfumers distinguished themselves thanks to the antiseptic properties of all essential oils. During the nineteenth century, chemists undertook the artificial production of essential oils, useful as perfumes. The therapeutic results achieved thanks to the essential oils dissipated the interest in natural treatments up to the twentieth century, a period in which renewed interest in nature and its intrinsic potentials. Among the so-called complementary therapies, aromatherapy is one of the best known and rising in the world. Its therapeutic value is increasingly appreciated by researchers and doctors
Benefits and contraindications of aromatherapy
A good smell makes us feel good. Through the perception of odors, aromatherapy involves the sphere of emotion, memory, sensitivity and all related cognitive areas, in addition to the endocrine system and the immune system.
Aromatherapy exploits the antiseptic, anti-toxic, cicatrizing, anti-parasitic, anti-rheumatic, invigorating and stimulating properties of the essences. On the other hand, there are also contraindications for oils.
Being very strong and powerful substances, they can lead to allergic reactions, damage to the kidney system, hallucinatory effects, convulsions, irritations, redness, itching, even up to shock.
Aromatherapy is also useful for the treatment of mood disorders
For those who are useful
Aromatherapy is able to cure many diseases and symptoms. The essences are indicated in the treatment of skin disorders, such as disinfectants or cleaning for wounds; in cases of fungal infections, burns and wounds as they speed up the cicatrization, help fight stretch marks and keep away many insects.
Aromatherapy, with regard to the circulatory and osteoarticular system, is able to improve circulation and obtain an anti-pain action. The essences are indicated to treat coughs, sore throats, colds, inflammation of the bronchial tubes such as asthma.
Some oils influence the menstrual cycle, the quantity and quality of breast milk or sexual organs. The main therapy is massage.
Naturopathy, and therefore aromatherapy, is regulated in 26 of the 27 European countries: including the United Kingdom where our products are created.
Curiosity about aromatherapy
A characteristic of essential oils interesting for the effect on humans and the possible applications, is to be perceived as odorous by our sense of smell. This sensory activity is the one most stimulated by essential oils.
Unlike the other senses, olfactory stimuli pass directly into the cerebral cortex, without being filtered by the receptor center of the thalamus.
Aromatic molecules spread in the air reach the upper part of the nasal cavities. The olfactory cells, once stimulated by the aromatic molecules, transform the chemical stimulus into electrical impulses which in turn stimulate the centers dedicated to the smell.