Abstract
This single, blind randomized controlled clinical trial, was conducted on 100 retired older adults in 2017. Participants were divided into two groups using a simple, random sampling. The intervention group received two drops of lavender essential oil and the control group received two drops of placebo distilled water. Prior to going to bed, the participants poured two drops of the lavender or distilled water on a piece of cotton, and then put it under the outer cover of the pillow. The intervention was carried out for seven nights.

The participants filled out the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index before and after the intervention. 

Observations
A significant difference in sleep quality was observed in the group receiving lavender essential oil compared to the control group after seven nights of intervention. Lavender essential oil had a positive effect on improving older adults sleep quality. 

Conclusion
Aromatherapy with lavender essential oil as a non-pharmacological intervention improved sleep quality in older adults.

Click here to download the full study.

Purpose
To investigate the effects of lavender olfactory stimulation, intervention on fall incidence in elderly nursing home residents.

Setting
Three randomly selected nursing homes in northern Japan (Randomized placebo – controlled trial).

Participants
145 nursing home residents, aged 65 and older.

Intervention
Participants were randomly assigned to the lavender or placebo group for 360 day study. The lavender group received continuous olfactory stimulation from a lavender patch. The placebo group received an unscented patch.

Measurement
The primary outcome measure was resident falls, other measurements taken at baseline and 12 months included functional ability assessed using the Barthel index, cognitive function (the mini mental state examination (MMSE)) and behavioral and psychological problems associated with dementia (Cohen-Mansfield Agitation, inventory (CMAI))

Results
There were fewer Fallers in the lavender group, then in the placebo group and a lower incidence rate in the lavender group then in the placebo group the lavender group also had a significant decrease in CMAI score from baseline to follow up in a per protocol analysis

Conclusion
Lavender olfactory stimulation may reduce falls and agitation in elderly nursing home residence. 

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Abstract
This study aims to investigate the effects of inhalation aromatherapy using lavender and chamomile essential oils on depression, anxiety and stress in older people.

Method
A three armies parallel, randomized and controlled trail with 183 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to 3 groups. The experimental group inhaled 3 drops of 1.5 % lavender and chamomile essential oils for 30 nights. The participants in the controlled group inhaled only distilled water in a similar fashion.
Data was collected using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and one month after the intervention.

Results
Statistically significant improvement occurred in depression, anxiety and stress levels immediately one month after the intervention of lavender and chamomile groups compared to the control group.

Conclusion
Inhalation aromatherapy with both lavender and chamomile essential oils helped decrease depression, anxiety and stress levels in older adults.

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Objective
The importance of non-pharmacological therapies for dementia has come to the fore. In this study, we examined the curative affects of aromatherapy in dementia, and 28 elderly people, 17 of whom had Alzheimer’s disease

Methods
After a control period of 28 days, aromatherapy was performed over the following 28 days, with a washout period of another 28 days. Aromatherapy consisted of the use of rosemary and lemon, essential oils in the morning, and lavender and orange in the evening. To determine the effects of aromatherapy, patients were evaluated using the Japanese version of the Gottfries, Brane, Steen scan (GBSS-J), Functional assessment staging of Alzheimer’s, disease (FAST), a revised version of Hasegawa’s Dementia Scale (HDS-R), and the Touch Panel type dementia assessment scale four times: before the control period, after the control period, after aromatherapy , and after the wash out period.

Results
All patients showed significant improvement in personal orientation related to cognitive function on both the GBSS – J and TDAS after therapy. In particular, patients with Alzheimer’s disease showed significant improvement in total TDAS scores. Result of routine laboratory test showed no significant changes, suggesting that there were no side effects associated with the use of aromatherapy. Results from Zarit’s score showed no significant changes, suggesting that caregivers had no effect on the improved patient scores seen in the other tests.

Conclusions
It was found aromatherapy as efficacious non-pharmacological therapy for dementia. Aromatherapy may have some potential for improving cognitive function, especially in Alzheimer’s disease patients.

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Abstract 
Many skilled nursing facilities are continually looking for ways to improve person centered care initiatives, while trying to decrease antipsychotic medications and decrease patient falls. The Pines at Bristol Center of Health and Rehabilitation in Connecticut conducted an independent study on aromatherapies potential impact on fall reduction, specifically looking at low-cost solutions to help reduce resident falls. The director of nursing felt if she could improve sleep and decrease medications it may reduce resident falls. The director selected aromas tabs for this study. The study participants had to meet three criteria prior to start of the study.

1. Patient must have experienced a fall within 30 days.

2. Patient must be noted a restless during night hours (11pm-7am).

3. Patient must receive daily medication for anxiety, insomnia and/or mood.

Results
It was determined that falls were reduced by 91.6%, sleep quality improved by 74.9% and medical intervention was reduced by 50%. The Pines facility were encouraged by these results and decided to move forward with implementing aroma tabs as part of their non-pharmacological, person centered care for residents that are considered high risk.

 Click here to see full study.

Objective
This study was designed to assess the potential of pharmacological relationships between absorbed 1, 8-cineole following exposure to rosemary aroma, cognitive performance and mood.

Methods
20 healthy volunteers performed serial subtraction and visual information processing task in a cubicle diffused with the aroma of Rosemary. Mood assessments were made pre and post testing, and venous blood was sampled at the end of the session. Pearson correlations were carried out between serum levels of 1, 8 – cineole, cognitive performance measures and change in mood scores.

Results
Here we show for the first time that performance on cognitive task is significantly related to concentration of absorbed 1, 8 cineole, following exposure to rosemary aroma, with improved performance at higher concentrations. Furthermore, these effects were found for speed and accuracy outcomes, indicating that the relationship is not describing a speed , a speed accuracy trade off.

Conclusion
These findings suggest that compounds absorbed from Rosemary aroma, affect cognition and subjective state independently through different neuro- chemical pathways.

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Purpose
This study examined the effect of essential oil diffusion in the clinical setting on nurses moods.

Method
Self report questionnaires measured the impact of essential oil, diffusion on nurses, stress, depression, anxiety, distress, and mood. Three essential oils (citrus bliss, grapefruit, wild orange) were diffused in 2 week blocks, with a 1-week wash-out period. Descriptive statistics and paired sample. t-test were performed.

Results
A paired sample was returned for 39 participants. There were significant improvements after diffusion of citrus bliss for stress, depression, distress, and mood. A large effect for depression and distress was observed for nurses who had previously used essential oils, and those with no reported external stressors.

Conclusion
Diffusion of citrus essential oils in the clinical setting positively affected nurses’ mood. 

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Abstract
Lavender essential oil has been used as an anxiolytic drug, a mood stabilizer, a sedative, spasmolytic, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, analgesic agent as well as a wound healing accelerator. We have studied for the first time the efficacy of lavender essential oil inhalation for the treatment of migraine in a placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Method
Forty-seven patients with definite diagnosis of migraine headache were divided into cases and controls. Cases inhaled lavender essential oil for 15 min, whereas the control group used liquid paraffin for the same time period. Patients were asked to record their headache severity and associated symptoms in 30-min intervals for a total of 2 h. We matched the two groups for key confounding factors.

Results
The mean reduction of headache severity in cases was 3.6 ± 2.8 based on Visual Analogue Scale score. The reduction was 1.6 ± 1.6 in controls. This difference between the controls and cases was statistically significant with p < 0.0001. From 129 headache attacks in cases, 92 responded entirely or partially to lavender. In the control group, 32 out of 68 recorded headache attacks responded to placebo. The percentage of responders was significantly higher in the lavender group than the placebo group (p = 0.001).

Conclusion
The present study suggests that inhalation of lavender essential oil may be an effective and safe treatment modality in acute management of migraine headaches.

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Abstract
Cognitive loss in  older adults is a growing issue in our society, and there is a need to develop inexpensive, simple, effective in-home treatments. This study was conducted to explore the use of olfactory enrichment at night to improve cognitive ability in healthy older adults.

Method
Male and female  older adults (N = 43), age 60-85, were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to an Olfactory Enriched or Control group. Individuals in the enriched group were exposed to 7 different odorants a week, one per night, for 2 h, using an odorant diffuser. Individuals in the control group had the same experience with de minimis amounts of odorant. Neuropsychological assessments and fMRI scans were administered at the beginning of the study and after 6 months.

Results
A statistically significant 226% improvement was observed in the enriched group compared to the control group on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and improved functioning was observed in the left uncinate fasciculus, as assessed by mean diffusivity.

Conclusion
Minimal olfactory  enrichment administered at night produces improvements in both cognitive and neural functioning. Thus, olfactory enrichment may provide an effective and low-effort pathway to improved brain health.

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Objectives
To test the effects of individual, non-facilitated sessions with PARO (version 9), when compared against a look-alike plush toy and usual care, on the emotional and behavioral symptoms of dementia for people living in long-term care facilities.

Design
Parallel, 3-group, cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted between June 14, 2014, and May 16, 2015.

Setting
Twenty-eight long-term care facilities operated by 20 care organizations located in South-East Queensland, Australia.

Participants
Four hundred fifteen participants aged ≥60 years, with a documented diagnosis of dementia.

Intervention
Stratified by private/not-for-profit status and randomized using a computer-generated sequence, 9 facilities were randomized to the PARO group (individual, non-facilitated, 15-minute sessions 3 times per week for 10 weeks); 10 to plush toy (same, but given PARO with robotic features disabled); and 9 to usual care. Treatment allocation was masked to assessors.

Measurements
Primary outcomes were changes in levels of engagement, mood states, and agitation after a 10-week intervention, assessed by coded video observations (baseline, weeks 1, 5, 10, and 15) and Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory–Short Form (baseline, weeks 10 and 15). Analyses followed intention-to-treat, using repeated measures mixed effects models. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12614000508673).

Results
Video data showed that participants in the PARO group were more verbally [3.61, 95% confidence interval (CI): 6.40–0.81, P = .011] and visually engaged (13.06, 95% CI: 17.05–9.06, P < .0001) than participants in plush toy. Both PARO (−3.09, 95% CI: −0.45 to −5.72, P = .022) and plush toy (−3.58, 95% CI: −1.26 to −5.91, P = .002) had significantly greater reduced neutral affect compared with usual care, whilst PARO was more effective than usual care in improving pleasure (1.12, 95% CI: 1.94–0.29, P = .008). Videos showed that PARO was more effective than usual care in improving agitation (3.33, 95% CI: 5.79–0.86, P = .008). When measured using the CMAI-SF, there was no difference between groups.

Conclusion
People who interacted with PARO were more verbally and visually engaged and reported experiencing more pleasure than people with dementia who received their usual care. The robotic seal also helped reduce neutral affect—a lack of facial expressions that can be common among patients with dementia—and made them less agitated. Interestingly, the study also tested a similar-looking plush toy without robotic features and found that while PARO was very effective, the simple plush toy offered many of the same benefits.

Click here to see the full study.