ABSTRACT
Aromatherapy is a rapidly growing, alternative and integrative therapy that can replace the conventional medical treatment with essential oils for managing conditions like depression, anxiety, pain, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, joint pains, sleep disturbance, and muscle tension, and also to enhance physical and psychological wellbeing. The essential oils, which are derived from different plant parts like leaves, flowers, fruits, stems, roots, bark, grass etc., are used for the aromatherapy. Usually the oils are applied topically for massage or through inhalation. Olfactory stimulation of aromatherapy can result in immediate reduction in pain and other physiological parameters like blood pressure, pulse, skin temperature and activity of brain. Nowadays, aromatherapy is the most attractive therapy for treating illness and for enhancing wellbeing because of less side effects and low cost, so the use of essential oils for aromatherapy has increased in recent years. In the scientific literature, there is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting that there may be beneficial effects in treating a number of health conditions with plant essential oils, alone or in combination with other therapies. This review explores the latest information on literature of plants and their essential oils used in aromatherapy.
