Publication:
Aroma-therapeutic effects of massage blended essential oils on humans

2
0

Issued Date

2011

Resource Type

Article

File Type

application/pdf

ISSN

1934578X

DOI

10.1177/1934578x1100600838

Other identifier(s)

2-s2.0-80054786974

Rights Holder(s)

Scopus

Bibliographic Citation

Natural Product Communications. Vol 6, No.8 (2011), p.1199-1204

Suggested Citation

Hongratanaworakit T. Aroma-therapeutic effects of massage blended essential oils on humans. Natural Product Communications. Vol 6, No.8 (2011), p.1199-1204. doi:10.1177/1934578x1100600838 Retrieved from: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14740/7278

Title

Aroma-therapeutic effects of massage blended essential oils on humans

Author(s)

Hongratanaworakit T.

Abstract

Although blended essential oils are increasingly being used for the improvement of the quality of life and for the relief of various symptoms in patients, the scientific evaluation of the aroma-therapeutic effects of blended essential oils in humans is rather scarce. In this study, we hypothesized that applying blended essential oil would provide a synergistic effect that would have a chance for success in treating depression or anxiety. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the blended essential oil on autonomic parameters and on emotional responses in humans following transdermal absorption. The blended essential oil consisted of lavender and bergamot oils. Human autonomic parameters, i.e. blood pressure, pulse rate, breathing rate, and skin temperature, were recorded as indicators of the arousal level of the autonomic nervous system. In addition, subjects had to rate their emotional condition in terms of relaxation, vigor, calmness, attentiveness, mood, and alertness in order to assess subjective behavioral arousal. Forty healthy volunteers participated in the experiments. Blended essential oil was applied topically to the skin of the abdomen of each subject. Compared with placebo, blended essential oil caused significant decreases of pulse rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which indicated a decrease of autonomic arousal. At the emotional level, subjects in the blended essential oil group rated themselves as 'more calm' and 'more relaxed' than subjects in the control group. This finding suggests a decrease of subjective behavioral arousal. In conclusion, our investigation demonstrates the relaxing effect of a mixture of lavender and bergamot oils. This synergistic blend provides evidence for its use in medicine for treating depression or anxiety in humans.

Subject(s)

Bergamot oil
 Essential oil
 Lavender oil
 Placebo
 Bergamot oil
 Essential oil
 Lavender oil
 Vegetable oil
 Adult
 Alertness
 Anxiety disorder
 Aromatherapy
 Arousal
 Article
 Attention
 Autonomic nervous system function
 Blood pressure measurement
 Blood pressure regulation
 Breathing rate
 Calmness
 Controlled study
 Depression
 Diastolic blood pressure
 Drug administration route
 Drug mechanism
 Drug mixture
 Emotion
 Female
 Human
 Human experiment
 Leisure
 Massage
 Mood
 Nonhuman
 Normal human
 Pulse rate
 Skin temperature
 Systolic blood pressure
 Chemistry
 Clinical trial
 Controlled clinical trial
 Male
 Middle aged
 Lavandula
 Adult
 Aromatherapy
 Female
 Humans
 Male
 Massage
 Middle Aged
 Oils, Volatile
 Plant Oils
 Relaxation
 Young Adult

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URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14740/7278

Collections

Scopus: Year 1983-2021

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