Existence Of Scientific Aromatherapy Evidence:

As with most alternative medicine these days, there is very little scientific backing for aromatherapy. But, before you go and pour all of those oils down the sink - you should probably hear what we have to say about the scientific evidence which does exist first. Remember - there may not be much of it, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any.

You see, the problem these days is that there are so many studies done which claim to offer scientific results, when in actual fact all they offer is an unreliable conclusion. The fact of the matter is that unless there has been a controlled, double blind, clinical experiment done, the technique (whatever it is) won't hold much weight with the scientific community.

But there is some good news on this front as well. There actually have been a few double blind trials done - and even though the results haven't taken center stage in the medical community, they have certainly been noticed by a few practitioners. Indeed, the results of these trials have been "initially positive" - meaning that a deeper study will probably uncover even better results.

Let's take a look at the studies we already have though, and see if we can make sense of them.

The Smell Study - What We Like vs What We Don't.

One study which tends to back up the claims of people using aromatherapy as a treatment option is the simple smell test. In this study, participants were told to smell a number of substances. Following prolonged exposure to these particular fragrances (chemical free we might add), the blood pressure and overall mood of each person was measured.

Interestingly, it was found that most of the oils used in aromatherapy resulted in a drop in excess blood pressure, which in turn had a calming effect on each participant. Moods improved, and the incidence of mood swings decreased.

Overall, the study came to the very important conclusion that indeed the sense of smell does have a tangible effect on the way we live our lives.

Proof Or Placebo?

It seems that in the study above, we can rule out the placebo effect having any influence whatsoever - as the aromas used on the test subjects continually changed, and the people administering the aromas has no idea themselves what they were.

This is called a double blind test - and is exactly how any scientific trial should be run.