Anxiety, Depression, Lavender & Water

​It is so neat to see natural therapies in the common research arena. Here are two interesting articles I’d like to share that just came out in November on treatments for anxiety and depression. 
The first paper is from Neurochemistry International and reviews the use of steam distilled lavender essential oil for the treatment of anxiety or anxiety with comorbid depression symptoms. It has been shown to be comparable to commonly used medications, such as 

​pregabalin (Lyrica) and Lorazepam (Ativan) without the unwanted side effects. Of course the dose and source of this essential oil is important but overall the studies are clearly proving the effectiveness of this beautiful botanical!

The second exciting piece of research out of BMC Psychiatry looked at the effects of using hyperthermic baths as an adjunctive treatment for depression (i.e. hydrotherapy!) What they found was that this was a treatment that patients were much more likely to comply with in place of other beneficial treatments for depression, namely, exercise therapy (only 2 people dropped out of the hot bath group vs 13 dropouts in the exercise group). After just 2 weeks of 15-20min head-out-of-water-immersion in a bath at 40C 2x/week, these patients had a mean difference of 4.3 points on their Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score and had no adverse events.

Who else thinks we need more treatment options that are side effect free?!
Natural medicines have been available in nature since the beginning of time - it’s just a matter of knowing what’s there and how to use it! (Ask your ND!)

References:
1.Muller, W.E. et al. (9 Nov, 2020). Pharmacological basis of the anxiolytic and antidepressant properties of Silexan, an essential oil from the flowers of lavender. Neurochemistry International, Nov 2020, 104899.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuint.2020.104899. 

2. Neamann, J. Et al. (11 Nov, 2020). Effects and feasibility of hyperthermic baths in comparison to exercise as add-on treatment to usual care in depression: a randomized, controlled pilot study. BMC Psychiatry, 2020; 20:536. doi: 10.1186/s12888-020-02941-1.