How Accountants Can Use Aromatherapy to Relieve Stress - Accountingweb.com

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November: leaves fall, temperatures drop, and you’re indoors more often. Working with numbers all day, every day, in front of a screen can drive you close to crazy. Conversely, think about the last time you were in close proximity to the fragrance of your significant other. How do you feel when you experience that scent? Scents are powerful, especially when it comes to relieving stress.

The mere scent of, say, a twisted orange peel may help you reduce mood swings and feel better about your day.

Dentists have found that when they scent their offices, patient resistance and fear seem to diminish. Even patients having root canals, when immersed in a room primed with relaxing scents, exhibited less anxiety and higher levels of relaxation than those in unscented rooms. They even reported pain sensations less frequently.

What is Aromatherapy?
With more accountants spending long hours working at computers, we have encountered problems like eyestrain, heart disease, depression, and lower back pain. Aromatherapy provides an all-natural way to deal with such stress, and it is not only an art, but also a science. It involves using essential oils to:

• Achieve balance of the mind and spirit.
• Enhance health and beauty.
• Heal physical and mental ailments.

Aromatherapy works by affecting the neurological functioning of the human body. In the brain, the limbic system, which deals with memory, learning, and emotion, is involved with the sense of smell and works closely with the nervous, respiratory, circulatory, and immune systems.

Inhaling aromas stimulates the neurons in the brain. Upon entering the nasal passage, the essential oil molecules stimulate the olfactory nerve, and messages are sent to the limbic area, triggering physiological changes through the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, and also in your lungs. Then the essential oil molecules are carried to every cell in your body via your bloodstream.

Using Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy delivery vehicles come in many forms. Here are a few:

1. Inhalation. Inhalation is the most widely used vehicle for aromatherapy. Steamers are made especially for this purpose, but you can inhale aromatherapy products without any special products.

2. Vaporization. Vaporization is also an effective way to use the healing properties of essential oils. You can steam essential oils in a vaporizer made specifically for this purpose in a potpourri burner or on the stove by placing a few drops of the oil into a simmering pot of water.

3. Bath-time fun. Baths are an extremely powerful method of aromatherapy because water alone has therapeutic effects. After running your bath water, add six to 10 drops of essential oil to the surface of the water.

4. Massage with essential oils. Massages combine essential oils with the healing powers of touch. With liberal application, the oils are absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream, where they can produce effects on the body and mind.