Slashdot Mirror
Lavender's Soothing Scent Could Be More Than Just Folk Medicine (nytimes.com)
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.
There's a long history 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.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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.
A cure for nervous mice that won't produce dangerous or unpleasant side effects.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Maybe there was something wrong with it, but the following was done 20 years ago:
https://www.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.
-
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.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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.
It makes me want to vomit. Its the worst scent/flavor ever. Not suitable for anything imo. Should be BANNED!
Clickety Click
Better yet, go to Provence in France, and walk through the lavender fields.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
One obvious question would be whether it replaces Valium only in treatment of mental health or also in its treatment of muscular injuries.
My wife is a lawyer and more clever than me (she says) but loves hippy-dippy, tree-hugging, unscientific "medicine". She gave birth to both our children with no drugs but lavendar oil. OK, it's only two data points but child birth is excruciatingly painful so do it twice is evidence to me there may be some merit to these claims.
--- "We've always been at war with Eastasia."
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.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Give a dog a coke, which many people think smells good.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
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.
RTFA! This isn't just about the smell being relaxing, the research delves into WHY the smell is relaxing.
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.
Smelling basically any delicious food makes me happier. I don't think this is the greatest discovery of all time. People have known that scents can affect mental states for centuries.
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.
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...
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
Humans would have it everywhere. And primitive man would have used it for this purpose in his primitive medicine cabinet. It would be in supplements today. Besides, things that affect the nervous system do so by poisoning it in some way. It would be the same with linalool.
E Proelio Veritas.
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
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Plain and simple.
No, lavender oil. It says so right in the summary!
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
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.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
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.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
When you gotta name your product line "this works", I am, for some reason, immediately suspicious.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
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.
Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
Testing mice doesn't hurt humans.
Famouse last words.
Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
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.