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In mice, researchers found that some components of lavender odor had effects similar to those related to taking Valium.
Bath bombs with lavender; candles with lavender; lavender deodorant sachets for your shoes, car or clothes drawer; lavender diffusers; lavender essential oils; even cold pills with lavender for humans and dogs. And from Pinterest: 370 dessert recipes with lavender.
Take a deep breath. Release.
People like lavender. We have been using this purple-headed plant since at least the medieval period. It smells good. But Google "lavender" and the results perhaps suggest the real fuel of our obsession: "tranquility", "calm", "relaxation", "soothing" and "serenity". Lavender has supposedly healing powers to reduce stress and anxiety. But are these effects more than just traditional medicine?
Yes, said Hideki Kashiwadani, a physiologist and neuroscientist at Kagoshima University in Japan – at least in the mouse.
"Many people feel the effects of" smell "with a grain of salt," he said in an email. "But among the stories, some are true based on science."
Their findings add to a growing body of research demonstrating the qualities of lavender odors that reduce anxiety and suggest a new mechanism for their functioning in the body. Dr. Kashiwadani believes this new vision is a key step in the development of lavender-derived compounds, such as linalool, for clinical use in humans.
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Dr. Kashiwadani and his colleagues were interested in how linalool could act against anxiety while testing its effects on pain relief in mice. In this previous study, they noticed that the presence of linalool seemed to calm the mice.
In this study, they exposed mice to linalool vapor, extracted from a filter paper inside a specially designed chamber to check if the odor was causing relaxation. Mice on linalool were more open to exploration, indicating that they were less anxious than normal mice. And they did not behave like they were drunk, like mice on benzodiazepines, a medication used to treat anxiety or an injection of linalool
But linalool did not work when they prevented the mouse from feeling, or when they gave it a drug that blocks some brain receptors. This suggested that in order to function, the linalool tickled the odor-sensitive nose neurons that sent signals to the right places in the brain – the same ones triggered by Valium.
Although he has not tested it in humans, Dr. Kashiwadani suspects that linalool may also act on the brains of humans and other mammals, who exhibit similar emotional circuits. . This is important because anxiety disorders affect almost one-fifth of all US adults and many of the drugs used to treat them with side effectssometimes less tolerable than anxiety itself. Who would not rather just take a whiff of lavender and feel at peace without any degradation?
Of course, we are far from that, said Dr. Kashiwadani. Linalool is only a part of the lavender fragrance, just as cumin is part of the curry. It is also unknown how linalool works in humans. For example, what is the dose? And how would you take it?
Until then, do not go crazy with lavender, guys. Dr. Kashiwadani said that with continued exposure, the olfactory system gets used to smell and reacts less. Impregnate your room with purple peace potion, unfortunately, can not move your anxieties forever.
Recent report on the science of smell and smells
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