Hello we will start our journey by explaining the benefits of Menthol, the herb which has been used by tribes thousands years ago. Time does confirm its benefits. Here are they:
Benefits of Menthol Essential Oil for Medicinal Use
- From a medicinal perspective, Menthol Essential Oil is best known for its ability to relieve muscle spasms and joint pain. This is due to the natural cooling effect it has when used topically.
- When inhaled, it has been seen to provide relief to those feeling nauseous.
- It is also known to be fantastic for clearing the respiratory tract, making it particularly useful to those experiencing common cold and flu-like symptoms.
So, it is proven that when inhaled, in helps relieve to those who feel nauseous. What for those who are feeling depressed?
Depression is reported as the largest health concern in the 21st century [4]. About 350 million people are currently suffering from depression. Systematic Review was made by Evidence Based Complement Alternat Med. in 2017, in which different measurements were tried to find any effect on people tending to have psychological problems, severe depression states, other words depression symptoms.
Diagnosis of depressive symptoms is carried out using validated tools. One of the oldest and most widely used diagnostic tools is the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale which comprises a clinical-rated and a self-reported assessment. Another tool included the Beck Depression Inventory that uses a patient self-reporting tool of depressive symptoms. These tools demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity and therefore are the best validated scales used for assessing the degree of severity of depressive symptoms.
Who was the subject?
The total number of subjects from all the studies was 1226 from which 984 were female (80.3%) and 224 (18.3%) were male participants. The study conducted by Lemon did not specify the number of female and male subjects in the control group; therefore the gender of 18 subjects (1.4%)
The participants included in the studies selected are people with cancer (n = 682), pregnant women (n = 333), women in menopause phase (n = 90), patients diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety (n = 32), postpartum women (n = 28), women whose children were diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (n = 25), healthy female volunteers (n = 20), and patients diagnosed with idiopathic environmental intolerance (n = 16).
Inhaliation aromatherapy:
The method of administration of inhalation aromatherapy also differed among the studies. The main differences in the administration methods rely on the distance between the aroma source and the subject's nose. In one study, cotton impregnated with essential oil placed in a diffuser was set in the nostrils of the subjects . In the other two studies the source of aroma was placed approximately 30 cm away from the nose of the subjects . In other two studies, the essential oil was applied to a bib or to a cloth that were worn by the participants. The volume of essential oil used in the inhalation aromatherapy studies varies from 10 μL to 1 mL or 3, 5, or 8 drops. The exposure time to the aroma ranged from 5 to 20 minutes, with the number of sessions from 1 to 56 sessions In one study, the total duration of the exposure to the aroma was not specified since the intervention was carried out during the active phase of the labor process that pregnant women underwen. Furthermore, the frequency of the treatment in the 5 studies differs greatly. For example, the frequency of treatment in the studies varies from once twice , and twice a week to daily . The duration of the treatment in the inhalation aromatherapy studies allowed the evaluation of acute and long term effect due to the duration of the treatment from 1-2 days to 4–8 weeks, respectively.
Results:
Two out of 5 studies evaluating the effect of inhalation aromatherapy reported beneficial effects to improve depressive symptoms in the subjects The subjects in the study of Conrad and Adams were postpartum women exposed to two different aromatherapy interventions, inhalation aromatherapy and topic application of aromatherapy, for 8 sessions. At baseline, control and treatment groups showed similar levels of depressive symptoms (EPDS: p = 0.8). At the end of the study, the treatment group with aromatherapy showed a significant reduction of depressive symptoms (EPDS: p = 0.01), but the improvement was lesser than using m'technique. The study conducted by Matsumoto et al. ]howed improvements in negative emotional stress after 2 sessions of 10 min on healthy volunteers. The TMD score (p < 0.001) and the depression-dejection (p = 0.041), tension-anxiety (p < 0.018), anger-hostility (p = 0.002), and confusion (p = 0.019) subscores decreased significantly after inhalation of yuzu, respectively.
Can you believe this? Thai sniff CAN treat depression, and it has been proven by medical examinations and tests! Over 40 procent of the study-taken respondents had essential benefits from depression using oils wet in cotton, just like THAI SNIFF are!
Thank You for reading and hope to see You on the next blog post!
References:
1. MENTHOL ESSENTIAL OIL USES & BENEFITS Published 18th Aug 2022 by Australian Wholesale Oils.
2. The Effectiveness of Aromatherapy for Depressive Symptoms: A Systematic Review Dalinda Isabel Sánchez-Vidaña, Shirley Pui-Ching Ngai, Wanjia He, Jason Ka-Wing Chow, Benson Wui-Man Lau, * and Hector Wing-Hong Tsang;
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2017