The Enchanting History of Essential Oils 💧🌹

Welcome back to Thrivency’s weekly newsletter. I hope you’re well! 👋🏽

You voted, and this week's edition of Origins of Wellness is all about essential oils. From diffusers on nightstands to the roller-ball-in-every-purse era we've lived through, essential oils feel like a very modern wellness staple. But societies have been extracting and using them for thousands of years.

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Essential Oils

Areas of origin: While Ancient Egyptians get a lot of credit, that wasn't the only place aromatic plants were incorporated into healing practices. According to some sources, both Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine from India are believed to be some of the earliest practices incorporating oils from plants, although Mesopotamian clay tablets are one of the earliest written artifacts referencing aromatic extracts.

Date of origin: The use of aromatic oils is believed to date back to 2000 to 3000 BC for both traditional Chinese and Indian medicine. Egyptians are believed to have distilled essential oils, as early as 4500 BC, using methods to extract essences like myrrh for medicine or perfume.

Original use: Oils weren't just about smelling good. They were also deeply tied to religion, death, and status. Egyptians associated fragrance with the divine—the god Nefertem was literally the patron of perfume and anointing oils. They used cedarwood oil to preserve bodies during mummification, and burned incense in tribute. Oils were also blended into cosmetics and skincare for the living, mostly among royalty and the wealthy.

How it's evolved: In a modern context, we mostly associate essential oils with their fragrance and secondarily, topical application. The word "aromatherapy" itself wasn't coined until 1937, by French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé, after he reportedly treated a lab burn with lavender oil and noticed how quickly it healed.

Decades later, essential oils exploded into the mainstream wellness and direct-sales world we know today — diffusers, roller blends, candles, and yes, the MLM boom (hello 2010s! 😅). Modern extraction mostly happens through steam distillation or cold pressing, and oils are typically used one of three ways: inhaled (diffusers, steam, or straight from the bottle), applied topically (always diluted with a carrier oil), or, far less commonly (and not typically advised with brands you’ll find on the shelf) ingested.

What's the science say? A Cleveland Clinic-cited review of 27 studies found aromatherapy meaningfully reduced anxiety in patients awaiting medical procedures: lavender, citrus, and rose were the most-used scents. A separate review of 30 studies linked aromatherapy to better sleep quality, largely by lowering stress, pain, and fatigue. Newer research is also looking at the specific compounds inside essential oils and how they may benefit sleep hygiene and improve outcomes for sleep disorders like insomnia. Like most complementary practices, the research base is still growing, but the findings on anxiety and sleep are some of the more consistent results in the space.

That's your history lesson for today! Do you have a go-to essential oil, or is this all a little too "woo" for you?

Before you go, make sure to cast your vote for the next topic of Origins of Wellness.

See you next week for our last newsletter in the month of September, a Community Voices Q&A!

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