In aromatherapy, Lavender oil is applied to a cloth of some kind or in a jar and placed near the individual for she/he to inhale for a certain amount of time. In various traditions, Lavender flower was used as aromatherapy for individuals who had trouble sleeping because it was thought to enhance relaxation and decrease the activity of the nervous system to help the individual fall asleep and stay asleep. Lavender has been analyzed for its effects on pain and stress and it is also currently being studied for possible antibacterial effects (University of Maryland Medical Center). Research surrounding Lavender oil is directed at its effects on pain, stress, and anxiety; some of these studies focused on the aromatherapy of Lavender oil and others looked at the effects of the topical application of the oil. For this paper, I focused on two studies that included Lavender oil as a method of aromatherapy in different patient populations. The first study is titled: “Effect of lavender aromatherapy on vital signs and perceived quality of sleep in the intermediate care unit: a pilot study”. …show more content…
The researchers recruited 200 women who were similar in demographics and childbirth history; these women all had planned elective caesarian births. The women were randomly split into two groups; 100 women were in the control group and the other 100 were placed in the case group. Post-procedure, three hours after receiving IV pain medication, a baseline pain assessment was completed on all the patients using the numeric verbal pain scale (1-10). After the baseline pain assessment was completed, the case group was given an oxygen mask that had a cotton swab with two drops of lavender oil applied to it. The control group received an oxygen mask that had a cotton swap with two drops of a placebo oil. The pain assessment was redone 30min after the oxygen masks were placed (stage 1). The entire process (baseline pain assessment, oxygen mask placement, and pain re-assessment) was repeated two more times; it was repeated 8 hours after the procedure (stage 2) and then again 16 hours after the procedure (stage 3). The baseline pain scores were very similar for both groups, but there were differences noted in the pain scores of the two groups in all the stages. In all three stages, the pain scores of the case group decreased more significantly than the control group. Due to these results, the researchers