Aromatherapy
Discovered in an accident, a 1920 french chemist found essential oils could have some healing properties.
Aromatherapy relies on oils extracted from plants.
The oil is absorbed in and has medicinal properties which take effect, and the pleasant aroma of the essential oils soothes and relaxes people.
You can use off the shelf oils with baths, steam, etc.
Essential oils promote self healing, reduce tension and stress.
Check with a professional therapist or your doctor before using an essential oil if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
History
The word was first used in the 1920s by French chemist Rene Maurice Gattefosse, who devoted his life to researching the healing properties of essential oils after a lucky accident in his perfume laboratory. In the accident, he lit his arm on fire and thrust it into the nearest cold liquid, which happened to be a vat of lavender oil. Immediately he noticed surprising pain relief, and instead of requiring the extended healing process he had experienced during recovery from previous burns - which caused redness, heat, inflammation, blisters, and scarring - this burn healed remarkably quickly, with minimal discomfort and no scarring.
What is aromatherapy?
The concentrated essential oils aromatherapists use to treat conditions are aromatic and volatile (i.e. which evaporate easily) elements from plants. The oils are not concentrated from whole plant parts - unlike herbal medicines - but are extracted, generally by steam distillation, from flowers, leaves, roots, grasses, peel, resin or bark. People have been treated with plant oils for thousands of years - records go back to the times of ancient Egypt, China and India.
How can aromatherapy help?
Aromatherapy is now used to treat a whole range of conditions and is believed to work on people both physically and psychologically. The first part of the theory is that when you smell an essential oil, it triggers your limbic system - the part of the brain that controls emotions and stores and retrieves learned memories - and relaxes you. The other part of the theory is that the essential oils are absorbed through the skin, and have medicinal properties which act on the cause of the problem.
Just some of the conditions aromatherapy is used to treat are:
1. Anxiety, stress or insomnia.
2. Muscular aches and pains.headaches.
3. Asthma.
4. Eczema.
5. Digestive problems.
6. Menstrual or menopausal problems.
You can choose to be treated by an aromatherapist, or you can buy certain aromatherapy oils over the counter at pharmacies and health shops, and treat yourself. If you visit an aromatherapist, he or she will probably massage oils into your skin. If you treat yourself, you can add them to your bath, or inhale them using steaming water, a diffuser or an incense burner. There is also a wide range of toiletries containing essential oils available, some of which may claim to increase wellbeing or have some healing properties.
Citations
Wikipedia,
Aromatherapy, BUPA's Health Information Team August 2003. Revised July 2004.
Methods of Use, Quinessence aromatherapy,
Aromatherapy benefits, Sunflower Studios,
Image Permission: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalveda/347669867/
We introduce you to some unique places around the globe where therapeutic
treatments are practised from many decades and where people find solutions 
Dedicated to news and reports collected by the team members concerning major health surveys across the globe, this section puts forth the current trends and results regarding serious health issues that need consideraton at the international level and awareness in the populace.