Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses plant extracts in their volatile form (essential oils) and other aromatic compounds to enhance mood, health and cognitive function.
Although, Aromatherapy is commonly used in spas, people have now recognized its value and are using it in their everyday lives too, to take care of health and skin.
While maintaining a healthy lifestyle is most essential for good skin, aromatherapy can contribute equally in skin care, and helps in gaining soft and supple skin. This happens as the natural oils get absorbed by the skin and eventually enters the bloodstream, thereby rendering a long lasting effect.
Using Aromatherapy for daily skin care:
The aromatherapy oils can be added to your daily moisturizing lotion, cleansing cream, or even milk. The oils can be used individually or by combining two or three oils. The ideal ratio could be two drops of oil added to 100ml of cleanser.
Dry skin: People with dry skin can use Ylang ylang, rosewood, geranium, Cedarwood, sandalwood or chamomile.
Combination skin: For combination skin use Geranium, Neroli, or lavender.
Oily Skin: Lemon, cypress, juniper, grapefruit, clary, or peppermint are good essential oils for oily skin.
Normal Skin: Sandalwood, rose, lavender, or neroli.
Chapped/cracked skin: Chamomile or benzoin, patchouli or vetiver.
Sensitive skin: Palma Rosa, jasmine, Roman & German chamomile or Yarrow Hydrosols.
Acne-prone skin: Tea Green, Rosemary. Both these herbs can be used to cure acne, dull dry skin, and skin irritation.
Benefits of Aromatherapy for skin:
The benefits that the skin derives through aromatherapy are many, few of which are:
- It helps in reducing the fine lines related to ageing.
- Cures several types of skin diseases when used in consultation with a physician.
- Cures bug bites and bee stings, and other skin injury.
- All essential oils used in aromatherapy for skin care have the ability to reduce stress, destroy bacteria, stimulate sluggish circulation and boost the immune system.
- Most essential oils have the qualities that benefit anti-aging skin care.
- Aromatherapy skin care treatments with essential oils can help open the skin pores, hydrate the skin and emit gentle, natural fragrances.
- True aromatherapy skin care treatments usually blend essential oils to treat skin conditions and rejuvenate the skin. While the lighter essences can penetrate deeper into the skin and act on a cellular level, the heavy-based essences are used for body skin care such as massages and beauty fitness treatments.
For all those of you suffering from insomnia
, drinking a glass of cherry juice twice a day may be just what you need for a good night’s sleep, according to latest study!
The researchers at the University of Rochester, New York, found that having a glass of unsweetened cherry juice in the morning and evening regularly, helped people enjoy better sleep.
The study lead, Psychiatrist Dr. Wilfre Pigeon, said that the effect of cherry juice is largely due to the presence of high content of melatonin in the fruit, the hormone which regulates the body’s sleep-wake cycle.
The researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing sleep patterns of participants in two phases. During the first phases, the volunteers were given cherry juice both morning and evening, and in the second phase they were given a comparable fruit juice.
Curing insomnia is one of the biggest health challenges of modern age. About one in four adults suffer from insomnia and sleep less than five hours every night.
“Considering the side-effects of certain medications, it is encouraging to have a natural alternative,” Pigeon said.
The results of the findings are published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.
Sipping a cup of coffee rich in olive leaf extract can help combat obesity, said the latest research by few Australian scientists.
The first-of-its-kind study conducted by scientists at Southern Queensland University used olive leaf extract and reduced the fat storage in rats. The researchers noticed the contraction of fats in rats, when exposed to olive leaves.
The study, conducted by Lindsay Brown, professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Southern Queensland, involved feeding rats with high carbohydrate and fat diet for eight weeks until they developed signs of metabolic disorder.
The rats were then given coffee fortified with Olive leaf extract for a further period of eight weeks, which showed improved cardiovascular, liver and metabolic signs, when compared to rats that were fed with normal coffee.
The results indicated a reduction in the stored weight and fats in the adipose tissue. According to researchers, the leaf extracts reduced weight due to its anti-inflammatory properties.
The olive leaf extract can be consumed in the form of tea. About five to seven ounces of water, boiled with crushed olive leaf, should be drunk five to six times a day to cure chronic diseases.
Oleuropein, a chemical compound that constitutes 15percent of olive leaf extract, is also an effective anti-oxidant.
The phytochemical, apart from imparting pungent taste, it also strengthens the immune system. Given, its anti-microbial and anti-oxidant properties that are double that of green tea, it is intensively used for research works. It is also known to lower blood pressure, ward off cold, and treat heart-related ailments.
The study results were published in the American Journal of Nutrition.
Tags: anti-oxidant
Tea tree oil may be a cheap and effective treatment for certain skin cancers and is used widely for spot removal and insect bites, say Scientists.
For the study, the Researchers at the University of Western Australia, apparently identified solid tumors grown under the skin in mice. The mice were then treated with tea tree oil formulation. It was found that the tea tree oil can shrink non-melanoma skin cancers in mice in just a day and cure them in three days.
The tea tree oil activated the body’s immune response. It prevents evaporation and increases the penetration of tea tree oil through the skin.
Unlike the other approved skin cancer chemotherapies, tea tree oil formulation produces only mild skin irritation which disappears within days of finishing the treatment, said Dr. Greay and Dr. Demelza, the lead researchers in the study.
The non-melanoma skin cancer is one of the most common types of skin cancer that affects thousands across the globe each year.
The results from three year old study are published online in the journal Cancer Chemotherapy Pharmacology.
Tea tree oil is also an excellent anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-septic, anti-viral, expectorant, balsamic, cicatrisant, fungicide, insecticide, stimulant and sudorific.
Drinking herbal tea helps decrease risk of ovarian cancer, reveals a recent study.
The Lead Researcher at the Institute of Medical Research, Queensland, Dr. Christina Nagle, said that the results of the study indicated that drinking more than four cups of black, green or herbal tea a day, can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by nearly 30 percent.
Although the previous studies in animals, did suggest that tea could inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer cells, results of human studies were inconsistent.
Nagle said that the findings suggest that antioxidants in tea are beneficial in fighting cancer in humans.
The study included a survey conducted on approximately 2700 Australian women (half with ovarian cancer and half without), wherein, each they were questioned about their lifestyle and diet, including tea-drinking habits.
Green tea is thought to be the healthiest kind of tea. Although the results did not show a strong link to green tea alone, with all the evidence received so far from across the world, it is suggested that drinking one or more cups of green tea a day may reduce risk of developing ovarian cancer by atleast 40 percent.
The study has been published in Cancer Causes Control.
The Jamun is a purple coloured tropical berry with a unique taste, colour and flavour. It is acidic and astringent in nature, with a sweet taste. The jamun also popularly know
n as jambolan, kala jamun, jambas, rajaman, neredu, naval, nerale, java plum, jamali, black plum and black berry. The anthocyanin a plant pigment present in the fruit renders purple colour to the tongue.
The fruit has loads of minerals, with glucose and fructose being the major sugars found in the ripe fruit. It offers lesser calories, in comparison to other fruits. The seed of the fruit is rich in protein carbohydrates and calcium. The fruit is also a fair source of iron, folate and vitamin-B, carotene, potassium, magnesium, antioxidants and fibre.
Health benefits:
- Jamun is particularly used in treatment of diabetes. Extracts of the bark, leaves and seeds have been found to cause a marked prolonged decrease in blood sugar and glycouria. Studies have shown that jamun has hypoglycaemic effects, wherein a 30percent reduction in blood sugar is reported. It has therefore been rightly named diabetic fighter, as recommended by studies – Indian Journal of Pharmacology, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre and Central Drug Research Institute. An effective remedy to control diabetes is to mix jamun seeds, bitter gourd (karela), Basil (tulsi) and Gurmar. This, when taken regularly, controls diabetes in a better way.
- Unani and Ayurvedic system use it for treatment of digestive disorders, including diarrohea.
- Studies have proven that Jamun could be protective in liver disease, thereby playing a vital role in preventing liver damage.
- The Jamun fruit extract, due to the presence of bioactive phytochemicals including polyphenols has shown to have an anti-cancer potential. The fruit consumption is also believed to have benefits during chemotherapy and radiation.
- The polyphenolic compounds in the fruit have great health benefits including prevention of several chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, ageing, diabetes and arthritis.
- The anti-bacterial property in the leaves of the jamun tree makes it an ideal medicine for strengthening of teeth and gums.
- The bark of the jamun tree is used for urinary disorders, de-worming, and to formulate herbal medicines by traditional healers.
- Extracts from the bark of the tree also has moderate level of antibiotic activity, and high astringent properties.
- The bark and leaves of the tree are used in controlling high blood pressure.
- The powder of jamun is applied externally to stop bleeding
The bitter vegetable, better known as bitter gourd, which was so far found to be beneficial against diabetes, heartburn, blood pressure, ulcers and high cholesterol levels, has now been found to be an effective slayer of breast cancer cells in the body.
According to a research carried out by scientists at Saint Louis University, bitter melon or bitter gourd extract, apart from killing breast cancer cells, also prevented them from multiplying.
The bitter vegetable, with its rich mineral and vitamin content such as vitamin A, B1, B2 and C, besides iron content, is highly beneficial in tackling several diseases.
Ratna Ray, Professor in the department of pathology and lead researcher, agrees that the results seem promising, as research shows that bitter melon extract considerably induced death in breast cancer cells and decreased their growth and spread.
The research was conducted using human breast cancer cells in vitro or in controlled lab setting. The extract will now be tested on an animal model to see if it plays a role in delaying the growth or killing of cancer cells. On receiving a positive result from this, human trials may follow, Ray said.
This finding is of special interest for women, particularly in India, as it is a much commonly available vegetable in India.
Ray said that preventing cancer by using natural vegetables is considered as the best way to reduce high incidences of cancer.
Ray’s future research will focus on using bitter melon extract as a vital dietary product and examine the impact on high-risk breast cancer patients.
Rajesh Aggarwal, Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Colarado University, Denver School of Pharmacy, said that this study is a major step in establishing cancer preventing efficiency of bitter melon against breast cancer.
However, more studies are required to understand the molecular targets of bitter melon extract in cancer cells and for establishing its in vivo efficacy, he said.
Eyes speak volumes about the status of health of an individual. They are the windows of your soul, and one of God’s greatest blessings, apart from the five other senses. Yet, people tend to ignore the necessity of taking care of eyes. Healthy sparkling eyes look naturally beautiful. There are several ancient practices which could be followed to keep your eyes healthy.
Yogic eye exercises when done on a regular basis are a gentle, effective way to prevent development of vision problems. The simple yoga exercises described here can, no-doubt, prove useful in maintaining healthy eyesight.
- Sit in Vajrasana by folding knees behind and sit on your legs. For those who find this pose difficult, you could choose another comfortable position, but your back should remain straight.
- Light a lamp/candle at a distance of two feet at the eye level. Stare at the bluish centre of the flame with a steady gaze. Continue staring, even if the eyes start watering. You can do this for about 10 minutes to begin with, and slowly increase the duration until the time you feel comfortable.
- Then slowly get up and fill your mouth with water. Keeping this water in your mouth, wash eyes with tap water. Then spit the water out. This water will be warm as heat gets released from the body. This has to be done twice or until the water temperature gets normal. This is a must after this particular kriya.
On doing the said practice daily, it not only improves eyesight, but makes your eyes more attractive. The practice opens up etheric channels called ‘nadis’ in the subtle body, and generates intuitive abilities in the practitioner.
Another yoga exercise detailed below is recommended for strengthening eye muscles and releasing stress.
- Sit in Sukhasana (easy pose), with legs comfortably crossed and spine, neck and head in straight line. Look directly to the front at eye-level and breathe normally.
- Move eyes upward to the ceiling and stay for two seconds, look downwards and stay for two seconds. Close your eyes for two seconds.
- Look towards the right, as far as your eye can reach, for two seconds. Look to the left for two seconds and then look at the front.
- Close your eyes for 6-8 seconds.
Palming exercise for release of stress from the eyes:
- Rub both palms together quickly for 10 seconds. This friction creates mild heat.
- Close the eyes and gently place the left palm over the left eye and right palm over the right eye. Do not apply pressure with the palms, but just left them gently rest. Breathe in and out slowly to release stress. Repeat this 2-3 times.
Other yoga poses that strengthen eyes include Bhujangasana, Shavasana and Surya Namaskara.
Few more tips:-
Dampen wads of cottonwool with pure Organic Rose Water and place over closed eyes. Relax for 10 minutes that way. The cooling effect of organic rose water helps cool tired eyes.
Splash your face and eyes 10-15 times in the morning using warm water. Avoid abrupt temperature changes.
Focus on particular diet to strengthen your vision, such as stewed apple, raw carrot, cabbage, and sprouted chick-peas. Winter Cherry (Ashwagandha) also helps strengthen vision.
You could also consider drinking a cup of warm milk with a mix of half a teaspoon of ground almonds, raw sugar, anise seeds and add half a teaspoon a day.
Drink plenty of water through the day, as constipation or internal dryness can have adverse effect on the eye. Stay away from caffeinated drinks.
In case you have access to Triphala, put a teaspoonful of Triphala powder in a glass of water and let it stay overnight. Strain the water and wash the eyes with it.
These remedies can help you keeping your eyes healthy and beautiful, and can be used by everyone, in general.