Does Aromatherapy Really Reduce Academic Stress?

This study was aimed at examining whether lavender oil aromatherapy could reduce academic stress in pharmacy students during high stress periods such as during exams. Since academic stress is a common issue among students, researchers hypothesized that the lavender oils would mitigate stress related symptoms such as increased heart rate, blood pressure imbalance, headaches, and changes in stool patterns. The study aims to assess 116 students, across three groups, to determine the levels of physiological and psychological stress before, during, and after exams. The results from this study are crucial in determining how to identify, alleviate, and manage stress and whether aromatherapy can be used as an alternative medicine.

Figure one presents the design of the study and how the researchers will organize the study. The study organizes the academic levels at three periods: pre-, during-, and post-exam. They assessed those without treatment (control) against those given the lavender (dependent) and odorless oil (placebo). The study controlled the experiment by focusing on student demographics during exams. The data indicate a reduction in stress for the lavender oil and placebo groups during exams when compared to the control group and no difference between the lavender oil and placebo, showing that aromatherapy is not more effective in treating stress than the placebo.

Figure 2 shows the changes in stress scores between three different time points, pre-exam, during exam, and post-exam. The figure showed that the control groups' stress scores spiked compared to the experimental and placebo group. The oils had an effect on the experimental and placebo because the graph shows a decline in stress for the experimental and placebo. The experimental and placebo groups required the individuals to smell oils while the control group didn’t. The information in the graph indicates a direct correlation between the oil smelt and the amount of stress produced. Evidence shows that exposure to the odorless oil was directly proportional to the lavender oil meaning that both had the same influence on stress.

Figure 3 assesses how the changes in heart rate (HR) is measured across all three treatment conditions. While the independent variables remained the same throughout the experiment the researchers measured the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the heart rate (HR) assuming certain factors remained constant (health, caffeine intake, hydration levels). The control group showed an increase in SBP and HR, while the placebo and experimental had lower levels. There were no differences between the placebo and lavender oil groups, indicating that lavender oil might not have a role in stress responses, but were a result of the placebo effect.

The study concluded that while the placebo and the lavender oil groups did have reduced stress levels, headaches, and physiological stress markets, there was little difference between the two, suggesting that aromatherapy with lavender oil might not have unique stress reducing effects. The researchers were incorrect since the placebo effect was equally as effective in reducing stress. Future studies can benefit from this by implementing stress management strategies. Perhaps different treatment options can be proposed to test whether lavender, if administered differently, can be a viable treatment option. Expanding the subject pool and studying the long term implications can help determine effective use of lavender as a treatment.

Ahmad R, Naqvi AA, Al-Bukhaytan HM, Al-Nasser AH, Baqer Al-Ebrahim AH. Evaluation of

aromatherapy with lavender oil on academic stress: A randomized placebo controlled clinical trial. Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2019 Mar 15;14:100346. 10.1016/j.conctc.2019.100346. PMID: 30957054; PMCID: PMC6431726.