An investigation on the effects of different types of odours on stress level of high school students when studying

Abstract

In view of the mental health issues among adolescents in Singapore, aromatherapy is proposed to mitigate their stress level when studying. An experiment was conducted both in the classroom and home setting, to test the effectiveness of the give odours, lavender, rosemary, ylang-ylang, lemon and bergamot on reducing stress level, using the no odour scenario as control. Objective data (SpO2, heart rate and stress score) is collected using the HUAWEI Band 6 smartwatch. Subjective data was self-reported by the participants through Google forms, rating their emotional health on a 10-point scale and elaborating in prose. It was found that the anti-anxiety effects of the stimulants (lemon, bergamot, rosemary) were much larger than that of the sedatives (lavender, ylang-ylang). In particular, lemon showed the best objective anxiolytic effect, while bergamot was the best in terms of self-perceived effect. Rosemary relieved stress through raising productivity, but some effects of overworking were observed. On the other hand, ylang-ylang showed inconsistent effects, while lavender was not suitable to relieve stress when studying.