Lavender's Soothing Scent Could Be More Than Just Folk Medicine (nytimes.com) 118
An anonymous reader writes: In a study published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, [physiologist and neuroscientist Hideki Kashiwadani] and his colleagues found that sniffing linalool, an alcohol component of lavender odor, was kind of like popping a Valium (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source). It worked on the same parts of a mouse's brain, but without all the dizzying side effects. And it didn't target parts of the brain directly from the bloodstream, as was thought. Relief from anxiety could be triggered just by inhaling through a healthy nose. Their findings add to a growing body of research demonstrating anxiety-reducing qualities of lavender odors and suggest a new mechanism for how they work in the body. Dr. Kashiwadani believes this new insight is a key step in developing lavender-derived compounds like linalool for clinical use in humans.
In this study, they exposed mice to linalool vapor, wafting from filter paper inside a specially made chamber to see if the odor triggered relaxation. Mice on linalool were more open to exploring, indicating they were less anxious than normal mice. And they didn't behave like they were drunk, as mice on benzodiazepines, a drug used to treat anxiety, or injected with linalool did. But the linalool didn't work when they blocked the mice's ability to smell, or when they gave the mice a drug that blocks certain receptors in the brain. This suggested that to work, linalool tickled odor-sensitive neurons in the nose that send signals to just the right spots in the brain -- the same ones triggered by Valium.
In this study, they exposed mice to linalool vapor, wafting from filter paper inside a specially made chamber to see if the odor triggered relaxation. Mice on linalool were more open to exploring, indicating they were less anxious than normal mice. And they didn't behave like they were drunk, as mice on benzodiazepines, a drug used to treat anxiety, or injected with linalool did. But the linalool didn't work when they blocked the mice's ability to smell, or when they gave the mice a drug that blocks certain receptors in the brain. This suggested that to work, linalool tickled odor-sensitive neurons in the nose that send signals to just the right spots in the brain -- the same ones triggered by Valium.
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Better yet, go to Provence in France, and walk through the lavender fields.
It'd be quicker and cheaper for most people to go to Walmart. I'll bet they'll have seeds, plants, and essential oils in stock.
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I clicked on the comments hoping someone would tell me where to get some of this stuff.
Alas, I'm one of the first one's here.
So, like, where can I get some of this stuff. You know... for a friend.
I have found that this shit actually works. https://www.thisworks.com/us/d... [thisworks.com]
Re: Oh. Shoot. (Score:2)
When you gotta name your product line "this works", I am, for some reason, immediately suspicious.
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When you gotta name your product line "this works", I am, for some reason, immediately suspicious.
Lingering memories of Microsoft Works gave me the same reaction.
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Give a dog a coke, which many people think smells good.
We already know scents can have physical effects (Score:5, Informative)
There's a long history [nih.gov] of scents affecting many real physical attributes, so it's no surprise that something as commonly loved as Lavender would have such an effect also.
Now we know why. (Score:1)
Yeah. That's why they even bothered to do this testing.
That hitherto subjective idea is now much more objective.
Use your subjective ideas to help you find objective truths; if you can't find an objective truth, then at least have the courtesy not to force your subjective ideas on other people. That's how you build Civilized Society.
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One obvious question would be whether it replaces Valium only in treatment of mental health or also in its treatment of muscular injuries.
Re:We already know scents can have physical effect (Score:4, Interesting)
Anything that gets your brains to produce endorphins will have an affect. A joke, a massage, a good snack with various food types, you could do it your self with meditation techniques that produce endorphins, hell if you have a sprained wrist, I could make that pain go away by breaking you legs. Obviously the pain in your legs would dominate your conciousness but that agony would also get your brain to release more endorphins which would be enough to silence the pain in your wrist and go some way to mitigating the pain in your leg, not completely of course but such is life ;D.
Re:We already know scents can have physical effect (Score:5, Informative)
Anything that gets your brains to produce endorphins will have an affect.
This study seems to suggest the linalool is affecting GABA transmission, not endorphins. In other words, it would seem to reduce nerve excitability in general, not specifically pain signals.
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RTFA! This isn't just about the smell being relaxing, the research delves into WHY the smell is relaxing.
At last. (Score:5, Funny)
A cure for nervous mice that won't produce dangerous or unpleasant side effects.
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Many things in mice are similar to humans, that's why testing things on mice has some scientific validity.
Mice only live a couple of years, so testing things that are meant to extend lifespan produce results in mice before the people running the experiment die. Mice are cheap. Testing mice doesn't hurt humans.
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Testing mice doesn't hurt humans.
Famouse last words.
Prior Study (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe there was something wrong with it, but the following was done 20 years ago:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/... [sciencedirect.com]
Can anyone explain why mice needed to be studied when it looks like human studies were already done with a few different "types" (again, not a chemist here) of linalool?
Thanks.
Re:Prior Study (Score:5, Informative)
The study in TFA was more in-depth and thorough. It's rare for a single study to provide all of the answers to all of the questions with complete certainty. For example, the current study looked at the mechanism for the effect rather than simply determining that an effect existed.
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I don't have a clue and I didn't RTFA either, but I'm still going to comment.
In my brain, smells can activate memories that have been dormant for ages. Along with these memories, strong feelings can come up too. Usually nice feelings. This is much more so with scent than with the other senses (at least to me). I think this can taint any research on the physical effects of such smells tremendously.
I can imagine this to play less of a role in mice; they likely have less complex memories and less memories. Als
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It's hard to get an ethics committee to approve chopping up humans' brains after exposure to investigate mechanisms.
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The scientist in the study were clearly paid off by Big Lavender (TM)
Worst Job Ever (Score:4, Funny)
But the linalool didn't work when they blocked the mice's ability to smell
Imagine your whole life being the person who has to fit tiny nose plugs on mice - and then get them off again later and wash them for re-use.
Re:Worst Job Ever (Score:5, Funny)
This was the fourty-second of an endless number of their experiments on us humans.
Re: Worst Job Ever (Score:2)
Actually they are experimenting on us.
Here it comes (Score:3)
Roche: Oh crap... something with effects similar to our product that isn't a controlled substance....
* Has lobbyists call up buddies in the DEA and congress *
Ban it! Ban It! Ban it! This is a threat
..... 3 months later ....
Cultivating lavender, possessing any lavender or lavender products.... Now illegal.
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And thousands of knitters and crocheters rose up and fought back with knitting needles and crochet hooks!
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Always remember, kids: just because they're out to get you doesn't mean you're not paranoid.
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Always remember, kids: just because they're out to get you doesn't mean you're not paranoid.
The lavender takes care of the paranoia, they're just out to get you now.
I *HATE* lavendar (Score:3)
It makes me want to vomit. Its the worst scent/flavor ever. Not suitable for anything imo. Should be BANNED!
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Re:I *HATE* lavendar (Score:5, Funny)
It makes me want to vomit. Its the worst scent/flavor ever. Not suitable for anything imo. Should be BANNED!
Damn, dude, did you misplace your Valium?
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Seconded.
I associate the smell with sickness and hospitals.
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The flavour goes great with roast lamb as long as you don't use too much. If you like rosemary, substitute about 1/4 of it.
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You should try the actual essential oil to decide. Perhaps lavender really isn't for you, or perhaps cheap fake lavender is just crap. I find many things that supposedly smell "just like" actual flowers smell terrible and irritating while the actual essential oil and the flowers themselves smell good to me.
Anecdotal data warning! (Score:2)
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My wife is [...] clever [...] but loves hippy-dippy, tree-hugging, unscientific "medicine"
You don't see the contradiction in that?
Re:Anecdotal data warning! (Score:4, Insightful)
Given the study in TFA and the anecdotal report from OP, perhaps she's smarter than you too.
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If you think that she believes in a lot of other things that are demonstrably wrong through evidence, this provides a good opportunity since you can clearly point to something she already believes in and has personal experience with as having been scientifically validated. Perhaps she'll give more credence to science than
Re: Anecdotal data warning! (Score:2)
not that unique (Score:2)
I doubt it (Score:2)
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There are chemicals that nourish the nervous system; they definitely affect the nervous system. You are claiming that nourishment is poisoning.
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As for being in supplements - It is.
As for humans having it everywhere - check the aromatherapy spas, or your mom's bath oils, or the herbalist...
"Drugs affecting the nervous system" might mean any one of hundreds of substances that do dozens of different things in the body, some of which can be called "poisonous", and some of which can't.
The result? (Score:2)
We have an epidemic of drug abuse grwoing right underfoot.
Lavender, and the devil's aftershave, Linalool!
Join us in stomping out this abomination, and write your congressman demanding an immediate "War on Lavender".
Your's in Christ, Jesus
Of course, huffing anything can affect you (Score:2)
This should be no surprise. Most people don't huff enough lavender to get messed up; but I know a couple who did. They were processing vast amounts of it to make soap and other products. They claim that without proper ventilation it sort of made them "too relaxed" to the point of being "out of it" or something. It seemed credible to me, and this backs it up.
Not patentable (Score:2)
Dr. Kashiwadani believes this new insight is a key step in developing lavender-derived compounds like linalool for clinical use in humans.
Since Big Pharma will not be able to patent this natural compound, they are not likely to promote it.
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Plain and simple.
No, lavender oil. It says so right in the summary!