Jim Koepke
05-08-2016, 12:41 PM
Recently my reading came across a few articles about rosemary's effect on memory.
It turns out that there are compounds in rosemary oil that may be responsible for changes in memory performance. One of them is called 1,8-cineole - as well as smelling wonderful (if you like that sort of thing) it may act in the same way as the drugs licensed to treat dementia, causing an increase in a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
These compounds do this by preventing the breakdown of the neurotransmitter by an enzyme. And this is highly plausible - inhalation is one of the best ways of getting drugs into the brain. When you eat a drug it may be broken down in the liver which processes everything absorbed by the gut, but with inhalation small molecules can pass into the bloodstream and from there to the brain without being broken down by the liver.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33519453
Also search > rosemary dementia < and > rosemary alzheimer's <
I guess I need to get out to the greenhouse and start propagating more rosemary.
Also interesting from the same study was this about lavender oil:
What Mark's team found was remarkable. The volunteers in the room with the rosemary infusion did statistically significantly better than those in the control room but lavender caused a significant decrease in performance. Lavender is traditionally associated with sleep and sedation.
I have successfully used lavender for years to combat insomnia. It is also helpful in soothing skin inflamation. Candy, my wife, says when I use lavender oil at night her sinuses are clearer in the morning.
jtk
It turns out that there are compounds in rosemary oil that may be responsible for changes in memory performance. One of them is called 1,8-cineole - as well as smelling wonderful (if you like that sort of thing) it may act in the same way as the drugs licensed to treat dementia, causing an increase in a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
These compounds do this by preventing the breakdown of the neurotransmitter by an enzyme. And this is highly plausible - inhalation is one of the best ways of getting drugs into the brain. When you eat a drug it may be broken down in the liver which processes everything absorbed by the gut, but with inhalation small molecules can pass into the bloodstream and from there to the brain without being broken down by the liver.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33519453
Also search > rosemary dementia < and > rosemary alzheimer's <
I guess I need to get out to the greenhouse and start propagating more rosemary.
Also interesting from the same study was this about lavender oil:
What Mark's team found was remarkable. The volunteers in the room with the rosemary infusion did statistically significantly better than those in the control room but lavender caused a significant decrease in performance. Lavender is traditionally associated with sleep and sedation.
I have successfully used lavender for years to combat insomnia. It is also helpful in soothing skin inflamation. Candy, my wife, says when I use lavender oil at night her sinuses are clearer in the morning.
jtk