Lavender for Generalized Anxiety Disorder Video Lecture | Aroma Therapy: An Essential Training - Health & Fitness

"Lavender for Generalized
Anxiety Disorder"
Lavender oil,
distilled from lavender flowers,
is most often used
in aromatherapy and massage.
Despite its popularity,
only recently have scientifically-based
investigations been undertaken
into its biological activity however.
There have been small scale studies
suggesting benefit from lavender massage,
but maybe it's the massage,
not the lavender.
There was a study on patients
in intensive care
comparing massage with odorless oil
to massage with lavender oil,
and though patients
massaged with lavender oil
did say they felt less anxious
and more positive,
there were no objective differences
found in terms of blood pressure,
breathing or heart rate.
Frankly, maybe the lavender was just
covering up the nasty hospital smells.
Subsequent studies
using more sensitive tests
did find physiological changes, though.
We know, for example, the smell
of lavender changes brain wave patterns,
but what effect does this have?
Well, evidently it makes people
feel better,
perform math better, faster,
more accurately,
whereas the smell of rosemary,
for example,
seemed to enable folks
only to do the math faster
—not necessarily
with greater accuracy.
What if you actually
eat lavender flowers,
or in this case take capsules
of lavender-infused oil
so you could double-blind the study
to compare lavender
head-to-head to a drug like valium,
lorazepam, known as Ativan,
for generalized anxiety disorder?
Generalized and persistent
anxiety is a frequent problem
and is treated with benzodiazepines,
"benzos", or downers like valium.
Unfortunately, these substances not only
make you feel like you have a hangover,
but have a high potential
for drug abuse and addiction,
so they decided to give lavender a try.
The drug Ativan certainly
reduces anxiety... but so does lavender.
By the end,
you couldn't tell which was which!
And in fact among those
that responded to either,
the lavender actually
seemed to work better.
Since lavender oil has no potential
for drug abuse
and causes no hangover effects,
it appears to be an effective
and well-tolerated alternative
to benzodiazepine drugs
for the amelioration
of generalized anxiety.
One cautionary note, however.
There was a case series published
in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Prepuberty gynecomastia
linked to lavender.
Reports of young boys exposed
to lavender-containing lotions,
soaps, hair gel, and shampoo,
starting to develop breasts,
which disappeared after these
products were discontinued,
suggesting that lavender oil
may possess hormone disrupting activity.
Indeed, when dripped on estrogen receptor
positive human breast cancer cells,
lavender does show estrogenic effects
and a decline in male hormone activity,
though it's unknown if similar reactions
occur inside the body
when lavender flowers
or lavender oil is ingested.