The nose knows

"What's that smell?" my neighbour asked me as she sat down on my loungechair. Before I answered her I quickly, but carefully, gauged her reaction.

My cat had actually had 'had an accident' near where she was sitting about three months earlier. My neighbour was smiling. I exhaled. 'Oh, it must be the new apple-cinnamon room freshener here on the coffee table'. Indeed it was.

She picked it up, played with it and declared how much she loved it. In fact, all through our cups of tea, conversation and playing with my cat, she kept repeating how lovely it was in the room and how nice it made her feel.

Smell is a primitive sense and as humble as the nose is, the job it does can actually govern our emotions and feelings.

It has been said that smell is the most instinctual of all our senses. In the animal world, it has been finely tuned to detect a mate, an enemy, one's offspring, and of course, food.

A shark's sense of smell is so strong that it can detect a single drop of blood in the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Dogs and cats know who their owners are by smell, and we are all familiar with the unique talents of bloodhounds and police-trained dogs.

Human smell is not as sharp or as sensitive, however, our noses work closely with many parts of our brain, and often subconsciously. For my neighbour, it had a much more overt pleasant effect, but did you know that smell even plays a part in our choice of a whole range of home products, and even who we choose to be intimate with, without us realising it?

Now think of your favourite odours - perhaps freshly baked bread, your best perfume, a baby's skin, a brand new car, fresh roses, the rain, hot coffee - and immediately a smile comes to your face.

The human nose is extremely complex. Put simply, when you sniff something, air goes up into your nostrils and the hair that lines the nose acts to both warm the air and catch any bacteria or solid matter to protect your sinuses and lungs.

When the air reaches your olfactory bulb at the top of the inside of your nose, it swirls around and messages are sent from there to your brain to be decoded. The brain then sends a message back which could be pleasant or disgusting or alarmist.

Aromatherapy is the name given to the use of organic essences - often used in the form of oils or incense - for healing and vitality. It was a term coined in 1937 by a French chemist when he, by a twist of fate, noticed the remarkable healing properties of lavender oil, while working in a perfumery.

There has been evidence of the use of oils for inhalation from as early as 3500BC. This century, the use of oils has branched out into bath products, lotions, candles, and steam applications in the use of oil burners. For something to be around for over 5500 years, it has be doing something right, hasn't it?

Aromatherapy goes a little deeper than just providing you with a happy nose. The essences can stimulate, alleviate, penetrate and activate!

A doctor in the World War Two, Dr Valnet, added to this research when medical supplies became low and some of the essential oils that were available (also from France) were just as effective in treating a whole range of ailments!

The real advantages of using aromatherapy stem from the fact that it comes from Mother Nature and therefore are relatively safe to use on everybody. Additonally, they are convenient and cheaper and have less side effects than more traditional medicine when used correctly. Some disadvantages are the risk of fires if using oil burners or incense and children should never be left unattended around anything that has a naked flame. Also, oils are never to be taken orally. Most are actually toxic.

Aromatherapy works. In the context of exercise and motivation, inhaling the right scent can mean the difference between getting to the gym, training ground or going for a run and staying in a lounge-chair.

For motivation, try burning orange oil, lemon oil, and clary sage. Don't forget to put lots of water into the top of your oil burner too!

To look after your oils, keep them in a cool dry place in their bottle and keep the lid firmly screwed on. Enjoy!

HEALING_OILS

Some afflictions and popular oils for healing are as follows:

Acne - Tea tree and Lavender

Arthritis - Chamomile, Juniper, Cedarwood and Lavender

Circulation problems - Rosemary

Coughs - Cypress, Sandalwood, Juniper, Marjoram and Lemongrass

Eczema - Lavender, Geranium and Chamomile

Extreme fatigue - Clary sage and Orange

Hypertension (high blood pressure) - Hyssop

Insomnia - Lavender, Clary sage and Frankincense (also good for nightmares)

Slow metaboloism and weight loss - Sage

Migraine headache - Rose, Juniper and Lavender

Nausea - Lavender and Peppermint

Pre-menstrual tension - Geranium, Bergamot, Juniper and Rose

Anti-bacterial (to be applied on skin or in bath water) - Lavender and Tea tree

Stomach ache - Peppermint.