Impact of winter savory essential oil on the psycho-emotional state and mental performance of the elderly

Abstract

The studies were conducted with participation of 290 people (145 people were divided into 3 experimental groups and 145 people represented 3 control groups) aged 55 to 90 years. During the study, the testees were in darkened rooms at rest (sitting position) in groups of 10-12 people. For the experimental group the essential oil of winter savory was sprayed in the room for 10, 20 or 30 minutes in a concentration of I mg / m3, alongside with psychorelaxation recording. The main components of the essential oil are: carvacrol (45.22%) and n-cymene (31.26%), in much smaller quantities - karyophyllenoxide (3.33%), l-octene-3-ol (2.44%), karyophyllene (1.66%), sabinenhydrate (1.20%), the remaining components are in a concentration not higher than I %. Participants in the control group were played only psychorelaxation recording lasting 10, 20 or 30 minutes. The condition of the testees before and after treatments in control and experimental groups was assessed using hospital scale of anxiety and depression test, word recognition testing with missing letters, correction task, well-being questionnaire according to the method Dembo-Rubinstein in the modification of A. M. Prikhozhan. The obtained data were statistically processed using Student's t-test for bound and unbound series. It was found that inhalation of vapors of winter savory essential oil ( Satureja montana L.) in a concentration of I mg / m3 at all durations of the procedure (10, 20 and 30 minutes) has a pronounced positive effect on the psycho-emotional state of the elderly, but weakly and rather negatively affects the performance of both simple and complex mental work.