Aromatherapy is one of the known ways to enjoy essential oils. It involves smelling essential oil vapours through a diffusing mechanism, which can be anything from a room diffuser to the steam of a hot bath. It’s also one of the safest and fastest methods of using essential oils because the essential oils go straight to your body’s olfactory system.
Inhalation of essential oil vapour stimulates a complex neurological process that interrupts the nausea feedback loop in the brain. It works by inhaling an essential oil vapour through the nose. The high alcohol content of the essential oils interferes with nausea signalling in the brain’s limbic system.
Advantages of using inhaled aromatherapy:
- It's fast acting - Inhaled aromatherapy gets to work quicker than other methods
- It's safe - Because there is no contact with the skin, inhaling aromatic vapours is safer to use
- It's easily transportable - No need to worry about bottles or spills, so you can use your oils on the go.
You can find out more about the benefits of aromatherapy for nausea relief in our article: Nausea Remedies - Aromatherapy.
Inhalation of peppermint essential oil has been shown to be especially useful in controlling nausea and vomiting.
One study showed that peppermint aromatherapy was effective at reducing nausea in 57% of cases.
A further study, showed that using an inhaler containing peppermint essential oil at the onset of nausea reduced symptoms within two minutes of treatment in 44% of cases.
Another study reported in the 'Journal of Advanced Nursing' found that peppermint oil relieved postoperative nausea, enabling the administration of more pain relief medication.
Find out more about the benefits of peppermint essential oil for nausea relief in our article: Nausea Remedies - Mint.
