Aromatherapy during sleep for better memory.
People over 60 who inhale essential oils of eucalyptus, rosemary or lavender, for example, improve their memory at night. They can better remember what they just heard. For 6 months, neurologists at the University of California at Irvine had 20 people over 60 sleep while an aroma diffuser in their bedroom diffused essential oils for 2 hours. The researchers had the diffuser filled with a different aroma every day of the week. The researchers used essential oils from roses, oranges, eucalyptus, limes, peppermint, rosemary and lavender. During the same period, 23 over-60s in a control group fell asleep every night while a diffuser in their bedroom diffused no detectable essential oils. Before and after the 6-month experimental period, the researchers tested the mental abilities of the subjects with a battery of tests. Results Overall, the researchers found no statistically significant changes in the test results. [Table] However, there was one exception: on the Rey Auditory Verbal Le...