Aromatherapy Essay

The aromatherapy practice has been in place for over 5,000 years in different cultures across the world. The practice applies to many bacterial and inflammatory illnesses by natural healers. The uses of this therapy include pain management, stress reduction, curbing poor sleep, relieving sore joints as well as battling the effects of cancer. Some of the aromatherapy oils are found in tea tree, lavender, and peppermint oil. However, the aromatherapy application faces a challenge of limited medical research for it to be used authoritatively in medicine. Some of the characteristics include testability and objectivity. The research should also be replicable and able to generalize. It is challenging to come up with reliable scientific research due to difficulty in meeting all the properties of scientific research.

For instance, it is difficult to test the hypothesis of aromatherapy as able to have relieving effects on the ailing parents. At the same time, it is challenging to replicate the importance and use of aromatherapy for medical purposes. Some people state that the perceived effects of aromatherapy on anxiety, pain, depression, and other effects are due to claims that lack strong evidence. Research in the area is contradictory and of poor quality. The mechanisms through which the actions relieve the conditions remain controversial. Different ideas tend to explain the mechanisms in various ways, but they are contradictory. For instance, some people explain that when the scent from these oils hits the nose, the olfactory system triggers the brain’s limbic system.

The most common ones are allergies, skin irritations, nausea, and addiction. In extreme situations, the essential oils can cause nacebo effects, that is, if a patient is told that the illness is hopeless by mistake, it may cause death soon afterward. The inhalation of essential oils increases the level of opioids in the brain, a factor that causes pain relief. A belief or autosuggestion has a significant effect on medicine. People may regard a placebo effect as a fake, but it influences self-healing mechanisms for a patient to start experiencing the healing effect. In a study to examine and compare the parameters that boost the immune system, Kuriyama et al. (180) explored peripheral blood cell amounts. These included red and white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and other parameters that affect the immune system.

Using aromatherapy massage, the researchers wanted to see what effect it could have on the levels of the aspects of immunity. The study indicated that aromatherapy led to an increase in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Using aromatherapy can boost the immune system. We consider aromatherapy an art and a science capable of boosting immunity and well-being of the body. The essential oils like tea tree, frankincense, eucalyptus globulus, and Scots pine have the properties that can prevent some respiratory ailments. The oils have a range of properties that open up lungs to fight flu, coughs, and bronchitis. The essential oils have antibacterial and antifungal properties that help the body minimize the level of infections in the body. As such, there is the need for incorporating aromatherapy in conventional medicine for the purposes of relieving pain and any side effects that conventional medicine may have.