Aromatherapy 101

Humans have sought out plants for their healing benefits for millennia. Although the term “aromatherapy” was coined by a French chemist (René-Maurice Gattefossé) in 1928, the practice of aromatherapy has been utilized throughout Egypt, India, and China for thousands of years. Aromatherapy is a compound word that consists of “aroma,” which means fragrance, and “therapy,” which means treatment. Aromatherapy is a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that involves the therapeutic or medicinal use of essential oils.