How does rosemary oil smell

How could vaporised essential oils possibly have this effect? BBC Food: Rosemary recipes. It turns out that there are compounds in rosemary oil that may be responsible for changes in memory performance. One of them is called 1,8-cineole - as well as smelling wonderful if you like that sort of thing it may act in the same way as the drugs licensed to treat dementia, causing an increase in a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.

These compounds do this by preventing the breakdown of the neurotransmitter by an enzyme. And this is highly plausible - inhalation is one of the best ways of getting drugs into the brain. When you eat a drug it may be broken down in the liver which processes everything absorbed by the gut, but with inhalation small molecules can pass into the bloodstream and from there to the brain without being broken down by the liver. As further confirmation Mark and his team analysed blood samples and found traces of the chemicals in rosemary oil in the blood.

The implications of this kind of research are huge, but they don't mean you need to spend your days smelling of rosemary and your night sleeping on a pillow of lavender.

The effects were measurable but modest and they give us a clue that further research into some of the chemicals in essential oils may yield therapeutics and contribute to our understanding of memory and brain function. It's also important to remember that any drug that has a measurable effect, even if inhaled from a traditionally prepared essential oil, may also have a measurable side-effect. You can't tinker with brain biochemistry and expect things to be simple.

But if these studies may help eventually contribute to new drugs to treat dementia there is another very nice benefit - they also restore some credibility to the much maligned alternative health field. Traditional healing practices weren't all quackery. Modern medicine of the kind I practise in London may have many sophisticated treatments but it comes with side effects and can leave people feeling disempowered.

We have spent many years rubbishing alternative treatments but there is, I believe, a real benefit in allowing people to take control of their own health with treatments that make them feel better - even if we haven't been able to prove how.

There are a few different aromatherapy techniques you can use; some of these involve applying balms or oils to the skin, while others simply require you to sit in a room with a diffuser or similar device while it emits the fumes of plant extracts. Rosemary aromatherapy has a range of potential benefits. As noted above, it works well on issues that arise from inflammation and can be useful in promoting the functions of various organs.

Perhaps the most common use of rosmarinus officinalis is in food. People use the raw herb to season meals of many different kinds. Because of its distinctive taste and smell, it adds an effect to meals that would be impossible to achieve otherwise. The use of rosemary oil in cookery is less common, as the flavor is quite potent compared to that of the raw herb.

It can also be risky to ingest concentrated rosemary oil in large quantities, as we discuss below. Like any other treatment, there can be certain side effects associated with the use of rosemary essential oil. Eating raw rosemary as part of a meal is safe, and you can ingest up to six grams of the leaf per day for medical purposes without worrying about side effects.

Drinking undiluted rosemary oil can give rise to a range of health risks, including upset digestion, kidney damage, bleeding of the uterus, and even skin issues like sun sensitivity and increased redness. There are some interactions you should be aware of between rosemary and prescribed medical treatments. Rosemary essential oil can act as a diruetic. You should therefore avoid it in this scenario as well.

This is because they can cause contractions, which increases your risk of miscarriage. It may also be unsafe during breastfeeding. Other essential oils you should avoid while pregnant include clary sage and red thyme. You should refrain from using all essential oils during your first trimester, but experts say that you can start using the likes of lavender, sandalwood, and tea tree thereafter if you wish.

These essential oil options can be very helpful in sleep aids during pregnancy. Depending on your specific issue, there could be a range of herbal treatments that might work for you. In one Korean study , researchers found that peppermint oil increased the number of hair follicles in mice in laboratory conditions.

You can use several, and you can also purchase products that contain a few together. Despite the technological advancements and information available to us nowadays, more and more people are turning to nature when looking for healthcare solutions.

Herbal remedies and essential oils pose less of a risk to your health than mainstream pharmaceutical treatments and can be just as effective in some cases. Research shows that rosemary oil can be used to improve your well-being by relieving pain, easing stress, improving your mood, combating baldness, and acting as an anti-inflammatory agent. Claire Levenberg October 23, Claire Levenberg. Table of Contents. What Is Rosemary Essential Oil? Rosemary Essential Oil Benefits Rosemary oil has a hugely diverse range of applications.

Rosemary oil may improve brain function Some of the most important health benefits of rosemary relate to brain function. Rosemary oil helps repel certain bugs The woody aromatic properties of the rosemary oil leaves work well to repel many different kinds of bugs.

Rosemary essential oil may help relieve pain Everyone knows what pain feels like. Help perk you up With everything going on in the world these days, almost everyone will find themselves feeling a little down from time to time in their lives. Rosemary oil might ease stress No matter what your situation in life is, you can probably remember a time when your stress levels were out of control.

Micro-circulatory stimulant This sounds somewhat more complicated than it is. Rosemary oil might improve memory Everyone could use a sharper memory. Anecdotally-Recognized Benefits Aside from the advantages of rosemary oil that scientists have explored through research and clinical studies, there are many that are known through word of mouth in the United States.

Can you use rosemary oil to treat cancer? How to Use Rosemary Essential Oil? Inhalation Perhaps the most popular way to use rosemary oil is to inhale it. Topical Application Topical treatment is one that you rub on your skin. Can you ingest rosemary oil? Other Uses There are a variety of reasons why people use rosemary essential oil, and many of these have nothing to do with health or wellbeing.

The answer is that both Rosemary oil and Eucalyptus radiata have significant amounts of cineole. This component cineole is also known as eucalyptol. You guessed it, oils with a fair concentration of eucalyptol smell like Eucalyptus oil. Research indicates that inhaling rosemary oil helps prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine, a brain chemical important for thinking, concentration and memory 6 , 7.

When 20 young adults were asked math questions in a small room diffused with rosemary oil, their speed and accuracy increased in direct proportion to the duration the oil was diffused. Additionally, their blood levels of certain rosemary compounds likewise increased — illustrating that rosemary can enter your body through breathing alone 6. Similarly, nursing students who breathed rosemary oil while taking a test reported increased concentration and information recall compared to breathing lavender oil or no essential oil at all 8.

One of the most common types of hair loss is androgenetic alopecia, better known as male pattern baldness, though it can also affect females Rosemary oil treats androgenetic alopecia by preventing a byproduct of testosterone from attacking your hair follicles, which is the cause of this condition When men with androgenetic alopecia massaged diluted rosemary oil into their scalp twice daily for six months, they experienced the same increase in hair thickness as those who used minoxidil Rogaine , a common hair regrowth remedy.

Additionally, those who used the rosemary oil reported less scalp itching compared to minoxidil, which suggests that rosemary may be more tolerable In folk medicine, rosemary is utilized as a mild pain reliever Additionally, an animal study determined that rosemary oil was slightly more effective for pain than acetaminophen, a common over-the-counter pain medication For deterring harmful insects that may bite you or infest your garden, consider rosemary oil as a natural alternative to chemical products.

Rosemary also helps repel certain blood-sucking insects that can spread harmful viruses and bacteria. When rosemary oil was measured against 11 other essential oils, it had the longest repellent effect on Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread the Zika virus. A dilution of Many factors can cause stress — including school tests. Inhaling rosemary oil may help reduce test anxiety. Because increased pulse rates reflect short-term stress and anxiety, rosemary oil may naturally reduce stress Increased cortisol levels can suppress your immune system, contribute to insomnia and cause mood swings, among other potential problems If you experience cold fingers and toes — even in relatively warm temperatures — rosemary oil is worth considering.

These effects were confirmed by thermal imaging Rosemary oil may help by expanding your blood vessels , thereby warming your blood so that it reaches your fingers and toes more easily More research is needed to confirm these effects — but rosemary may prove a worthwhile, low-cost experiment. Rosemary oil is commonly used for mental strain and fatigue in folk medicine This increase in alertness corresponded to changes in brain waves and increases in heart rate, breathing and blood pressure 1.

Applying diluted rosemary oil to your skin may provide similar benefits, as it can reach your brain via this route In one study, applying diluted rosemary oil to the skin caused 35 healthy people to feel significantly more attentive, alert, energetic and cheerful after 20 minutes than when using a placebo oil Preliminary evidence suggests that rosemary oil may help reduce tissue inflammation that can lead to swelling, pain and stiffness 4 , It may do so by stemming the migration of white blood cells to injured tissues to release inflammatory chemicals