The Study of Marjoram Essential Oil on Adult Heart Rate Variation Via Massage

• Main Authors: WANG, NAN-CHING, 王南青
• Other Authors: CHEN, SHUO-FEI
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/t3636r

碩士 === 佛光大學 === 未來與樂活產業學系 === 107 === Background: Stress that affects the autonomic neural and endocrine systems is a disease of civilization in modern humans. Optimal stress is needed for physical survival and environment adaptation. However, when the stress exceeds the physical limit that a body may sustain, suboptimal health problems appear. Natural auxiliary therapy has been used to help relieving stress, balancing autonomic activity, and decreasing of suboptimal health problems. The effectiveness of aromatherapy has been widely explored because it is safe and easy to use. Most aromatherapy studies have focused on the effectiveness of inhalation and longer-time massage methods. Methods: The current study used shorter-time topical rubbing method to investigate the effects of Marjolam essential oil on heart rate variability (HRV) and stress in a stressed population. The experiment imitated a condition of simple topical rubbing of essential oil at home by the participants for relieving stress. After screening of potential participants, subjects with HRV ≧ 1.0 were randomly divided into the Marjolam oil intervention group (n = 30) and coconut oil control group (n = 30). Results: The results showed no significant within group difference in blood pressure, heart rate, HRV, LF%, HF% and stress index (LF/HF) in the control group. On other hand, significant within-group differences were found in the intervention group; the LF% which represents the sympathetic neural activity was significantly decreased (p < 0.001) while the HF% which represents the parasympathetic neural activity was significantly increased (p < 0.001); the heart rate was reduced by 2.6% (p < 0.05). Between-group comparisons showed significant reduction of stress index (deriving from the decrement of sympathetic neural activity and increment of parasympathetic activity) in the intervention group compared with the control group. The sex factor had no influence on all indexes. Within-group differences of 8 items in anxiety scale were found in the intervention group but no statistical differences were found between the two groups. Conclusion: Use of simple topical rubbing of Marjolam essential oil reduces stress by the decrement of sympathetic neural activity and increment of parasympathetic activity. Use of this simple aromatherapy is recommended for selfcare at home. Further long-term study of continuous use of Marjolam essential on autonomic neural system and stress is warranted.