Essential oils effect...
Aromatherapy has been around since the early 1900's. Here is the connection between inhaling oils, and it having an emotional impact on you. The nerve in the brain that controls your sense of smell is called the olfactory nerve. The end point of this nerve is in your nose and runs to the back of your nose to your brain. The part of your brain that connects to the temporal lobe. The Temporal Lobe has the hippocampus and amygdala. The Hippocampus plays a role in memory of past experiences, the amygdala is the emotional center of your brain. Why would something you smell affect your brain? Because the essential oils contain volatile organic compounds that exert a pharmacological effect when they penetrate the body, either through your skin or the olfactory nerve.
Volatile just means the oil can vaporize and become a gas. So the oil of these plants are made up of molecules that can be absorbed through the skin in oil form or through your nose as a gas. By inhaling these molecules you send them directly to the emotional side of the brain.
This is why inhaling gases and fumes is a big deal. There is a direct pathway from your nose to your brain. Not everything you inhale has a pharmacological effect on you. So don't be worried about everything you inhale. But inhaling things is a faster route to affecting your brain then it is to eating something, because when you eat something you have to digest it in order for it to break down and enter the blood stream. The blood stream is the highway to take things to your organs. But a Gas can be absorbed directly by the nerve and has a straight shot to the brain.
