Aromatherapy for You and Your Pets

WHY AROMATHERAPY WORKS

The basic purpose of aromatherapy is to use the naturally occurring fragrant qualities found in essential oils as supportive, healing resources from nature's “medicine cabinet.” These oils are commonly extracted from plant material and additional compounds.

Aromatherapy using essential oils has become very popular in recent years. Even though it's primarily associated with relaxing therapeutic massage sessions, more advanced uses for essential oils continue to be explored. 

So what exactly are essential oils? They are naturally occurring compounds found in plants and flowers, and are highly concentrated when distilled for purity, potency, and efficacy.

The flower-based oils typically have powerful aromatic uses. Historically, early sources of oils, like frankincense, were primarily for medicinal purposes. Since then, essential oils have been chiefly selected and extracted from flowers or delicate plant tissues already known for their various healing properties. Our sense of smell is amazing and aromatherapy just may be more powerful than you realize! 

Sometimes categorized into three distinctive areas of use, the following aromatherapy methods have proved an effective resolution to a lot of problems.

1. Air dispersion, through the use of a nebulizer, mister, or diffuser, falls under the class for environmental fragrance or disinfection.
2. Direct inhalation is promoted to relieve assorted respiratory problems like respiratory infection, congestion, chest tightness and many others.
3. Topical applications are mainly for relaxing purposes like massages, baths, compresses and therapeutic skincare treatments yet also provide an aromatic effect. 

Aromatherapy most likely has the strongest positive effect on the limbic system through the olfactory system.

The olfactory system includes the organs or cells contributing to our sense of smell, primarily the olfactory bulb and olfactory receptor cells. When we breathe in through our nose, tiny particles in the air interact with the olfactory system and send signals to the brain through various receptor sites like the limbic system. 

The limbic system is often referred to as the “emotional brain” and each part is responsible for several functions. For example, the limbic system can affect your heart rate, blood pressure, memory, emotions, stress levels, hunger or thirst, pleasure or pain and even your facial expressions. Particles inhaled through the mouth are also transmitted to the lungs which can then interact with the respiratory system. This is why simply smelling or inhaling aromatic essential oils can directly affect our physical body, mind and emotions.


I primarily use essential oils for anxiety, calming, sleep, building immunity, wound care and digestive issues. 

If you would like to know the top three oils I use for myself, my dog and my horses, sign up for my newsletter and I'll send you my full report!

 

Jana Curtin

Owner of Graceful Pets


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