As you may already know, I’m a big proponent of using organic and naturally found herbs as part of a healthy lifestyle. Recently, I discovered the interesting world of aromatherapy diffusers. I was already familiar with using essential oils in teas and applications, but I wondered specifically about the benefits of inhaling different aromas. So I did some investigation and found quite a number of scientific studies proving or disproving the use of aromatherapy in different health issues.
Essential oil inhalation, mostly lavender, has been used pre-op, during surgery and post-op and the effects on patients really isn’t that surprising. Lavender is able to reduce anxiety in patients both before medical procedures and during the actual operations. Essential oils have also been shown to reduce pain or perhaps increase pain management during the recovery stage as well.
Essential oil inhalation has health benefits even if you are not having major surgery.
Lavender, sweet orange and rosa damascene have been shown to improve sleep quality.
Diffusions made from lavender, geranium, osmanthus fragrans and grapefruit, bergamot, lavender and sandalwood, rose water, polianthes tuberosa, hinoki cypress, lemongrass, and rose and orange oil have been shown to reduce anxiety and agitation in everyone from Alzheimer’s patients to college students taking an exam.
Inhalation of orange, lavender, damask rose, bergamot, jasminum officinale and salvia officinale, bitter orange, and geranium oil have proven to reduce reported pain in a variety of situations including laboring mothers, post-operative patients and chronic pain sufferers.
Breathing lavender, Roman chamomile, bergamot and yuzu essential oils can help elevate your mood. Petitgrain essential oil can improve work performance by reducing the stress level and increasing attentiveness.
Ginger, peppermint and lemon scents can reduce nausea.
For women, lavender aromatherapy reduces hot flash occurrences and has been shown to be effective in alleviating dysmenorrhea symptoms.
As you can see, there is ample evidence that aromatherapy works in conjunction with traditional medical practices for a variety of ailments.
Armed with all this knowledge, I decided to try out an aromatherapy diffuser. Diffusers disperse the aroma from essential oils at regular intervals. There are a number of options, but I choose the Raindrop Nebulizing Diffuser by Organic Aromas.
As soon as it arrived, I set it up and waited for it to do its magic. And I waited and waited and waited. Turned out, I didn’t have it plugged in correctly. Once I remedied that, it lit up like a Christmas tree, literally. This festive feature can be turned off with the touch of a button. Puffs of aroma ascended and pretty soon the entire house was saturated in scent. Fortunately, I could dial down the distribution, otherwise it would have been overwhelming. The Little House in Sunflower Valley is tiny, just 60 square meters, so I can safely say that this diffuser would work well in a much larger dwelling. It’s designed to automatically shut off after 120 minutes, which is really more than enough time.
Instead of using heat or steam to diffuse the essential oil, Raindrop Nebulizing Diffuser uses Bernoulli’s principle. Not knowing much about this myself, I took my questions to Wiki which explained that it has to do with gas flow and fluid pressure. There is a really nice graphic on the Organic Aromas site detailing this process here.
The blended scent that came with the diffuser was a bit too complex for me. It contained basil, cinnamon, sweet fennel, clove, melissa, ylang ylang, and Egyptian geranium. However, when I tried simple lavender essential oil, I was in heaven.
Along with the diffuser, the package contained detailed instructions about setting up and cleaning the device, 2 droppers to aid in the process, a cloth bag to store the base, a power socket and 5 ml of Organic Aromas Celebration essential oil blend.
This particular model comes in a lovely natural wood or dark wood colors. Organic Aromas also offers other models, some handcrafted and some laser engraved with the image of your choice, perfect for gift giving. To start getting those inhaled essential oil health benefits, you can order yours directly from Organic Aromas or through Amazon and Amazon Mexico. You won’t be disappointed!
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Surviving Mexico 