Post 3: Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy, which can basically be defined as an ancient method of using scents to balance the

body and mind, was the last topic of discussion from the pseudoscience lectures. It appears that the

primary issue that makes aromatherapy false is how it uses broad claims and no scientific evidence to

back up what it is supposed to do. Unfortunately, it seems that evidence found from testing would

prove the opposite, that aromatherapy does not actually help stress or the mind whatsoever. After

doing some additional research, I was able to find some more scents with interesting claims, but still

no real scientific evidence that actually backs the claims. For example, vanilla supposedly promotes

stress relief and rosemary can be used to reduce headaches. Several web pages claim that these scents

actually work for certain purposes and that there are studies to prove it, and yet none of these web

pages went into detail about the studies or how accurate they were. Although I would not personally

believe in aromatherapy, there are many people who do and still continue to use this ancient method

today.

Bottles of Rosemary essential oil are sold to supposedly help with brain function and stress.