By Mary Jo Kreitzer

It's true that certain scents can affect your emotions. But how?

When we breathe in scents, an area of the brain called the limbic system is activated. The limbic system is also called the emotional brain - which explains why smells can trigger emotions.

Scents also evoke emotions through memory associations. The smell of lavender can be very pleasant if your grandmother wore lavender and the relationship with your grandmother was good. On the other hand, that same scent could create stress if the relationship with your grandmother was not a happy one.

Selecting scents for your home or other situations can be difficult. The right smells might for you might come from essential oils.

In the case of essential oils (or aromatherapy), you need to understand how the various oils work and what effect you are trying
to achieve. For example:

Lavender oil tends to be relaxing and can be effective in reducing mild to moderate anxiety. It also has been used to help people sleep.

Peppermint is a stimulant for many people and has been used to treat fatigue. Rosemary is also a stimulant and has been shown to improve mental clarity.

To help improve mood, citrus oils such as mandarin and sweet orange appear to have an uplifting effect on many people.

In Minnesota, many people have pleasant associations with the smell of pine. Pine essential oils have not been studied for their mood altering properties, but many of us know that pine smell makes us feel good and the air smell fresh.

Research at the University of Minnesota has helped us to better understand the effect of aromatherapy and essential oils. For instance, there have been discoveries that show that ginger and spearmint reduce nausea.

Another positive outcome for essential oils is that people with allergies or sensitivities are less likely to react to pure essential oils than to perfumes or artificial scents. However, before you add essential oils to your home environment, make sure that no one has a severe allergy to scents. It is also important to keep essential oils out of the reach of children. Just because something is natural, doesn't mean it is safe for children.

Mary Jo Kreitzer, Ph.D. R.N., is the director of the Center for Spirituality and Healing. This column is an educational service of the University of Minnesota. Advice presented should not take the place of an examination by a health-care professional. For more health-related information, go to http://www.healthtalk.umn.edu.