The Benefits of Aromatherapy Herbal Incense

Author: Beast Marketing

Most people don't know what aromatherapy herbal incense products are.

Most of those who know only that is, at best, a form of alternative medicine or, at worst, quack science. This article will explain in a bit more detail what it is, and the proven benefits of aromatherapy.

What Is Aromatherapy?

Aromatherapy is a form of holistic herbal incense medicine that focuses on the use of aromatic essential oils. These oils are either diluted into carrier oil and applied to the skin, or mixed with steaming hot water and the steam inhaled. In rare cases, it is ingested, and even then only in minute quantities.

What Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are basically plant extracts. The organic chemical compounds in a plant (its "essence") are extracted through a process of steam distillation, resulting in a highly concentrated, highly potent (and often highly aromatic) liquid.

Herbal essential oils are used in industry for perfumes, soaps, cosmetics, and for flavoring foods (ever use vanilla extract in baking?). The concentrated organic chemical compounds in certain plants, however, also have a medicinal use.

In Europe and the West, the use of essential oils in medicine dates back to at least the Middle Ages. In Asia, specifically India and China, it goes back considerably farther-over two thousand years.

Does Herbal Aromatherapy Incense Work?

The scientific basis behind aromatherapy is sound. Plant extracts have been used in medicine for hundreds of years. In fact, they are still used today-only now we take organic herbal compounds in pill form instead of in an oil, compress, or vapor.

Wintergreen, for example, is used in aromatherapy as a decongestant. Wintergreen is also used in many over-the-counter decongestants-only they use its scientific name, menthol, instead. A few drops of lemon grass oil, mixed into a bottle of oil and spread over your skin, is an excellent insect repellent.

Many commercial companies also produce and sell insect repellent incense, oils, and sprays using lemon grass oil, although they once again prefer to use its scientific name-citronella.

Many plant oils have proven anti-bacterial effects. For this reason, they are used in disinfectants and antiseptics, such as soap, toothpaste, and mouthwash. Other plant oils contain natural anti-microbal, anti-viral, or anti-fungal compounds.

Lavender oil, for example, was used during World War II to fight infection in wounded French soldiers. Lavender oil has also been used to successfully treat skin infections, such as eczema. Lemon oil has been used to treat fungal infections, such as athlete's foot.

Still other plant oils contain natural anesthetics. Eugenol (clove oil) was once extensively by dentists as a local anesthetic before the advent of novocain. Eucalyptus and camphor oils both produce a numbing, counter-irritant effect when diluted in oil and spread over a rash or burn.

So for particular plaint oils used to treat specific ailments, yes, aromatherapy has been proven to work. It's difficult to answer this question, however, for aromatherapy as a whole. In some cases, it has been proven ineffective.

Most aromatherapy treatments, however, have not yet been scientifically tested, so we have only anecdotal accounts (word of mouth based on personal experience) as to their effectiveness.

Finally, in some case, such as frankincense oil alleviating anxiety... well, how exactly do you even measure that?

Currently, aromatherapy is not generally accepted in Western medical science. Far more scientific and analysis and testing is needed before anyone can say definitively whether or not aromatherapy, as a whole, is medically valid.

Until then, the many benefits of going out and buy retail herbal incense

products, will likely be sidelined as merely an alternative form of treatment, half science and half folk remedy, struggling for popular acceptance.

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