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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

18.08.2018

Inhaling essential oils after workout speeds recovery and improves performance

Inhaling a mixture of of four essential oils for 10 minutes after their workouts enables athletes to recover faster and build more endurance. This is suggested by a Chinese animal study, in which researchers exposed rats to a mixture of orange, clove, peppermint and rosemary oils.

Study
The researchers, who were associated with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, had 4 groups of rats swim until exhaustion to determine the limits of their endurance.

A first group of rats had rested [Ctrl] during the 3 days that had preceded the session, while a second group of rats had already swum until exhaustion during the same period [Fatigue]. The rats in the latter group were already tired when the test began.

A third and fourth group had also swum. After each session the rats had inhealed, for 10 minutes respectively, essential oil from the leaves of the peppermint plant Mentha piperita [PEO] or a mixture of 4 different oils inhaled. This mixture consisted of equal parts of the oil from orange peels [Citrus sinensis], clove oil [Syzigium aromaticum], peppermint oil [Mentha piperita] and rosemary oil [Rosmarinus officinalis].

Results
The rats who had inhaled peppermint oil after their swimming sessions could swim longer than the rats that had swum, but had not inhaled essential oils. However, the rats that had been exposed to the essential oil mixture performed best of all groups.

The essential oil mixture prevented the build up of the concentration of lactic acid and urea in the blood after the final swimming session. High concentrations of both substances cause fatigue. This effect of the essential oil mixture also suggests an improvement of the muscle cell's metabolism and prevention of muscle protein break down.

The essential oil mixture also prevented the concentration of malondialdehyde from increasing after the session. Malondialdehyde is formed when free radicals attack cell membranes.

At the same time, the essential oil mixture increased the concentration of the detoxifying and antioxidant enzyme glutation-peroxidase. This enzyme neutralizes free radicals.

Conclusion
"Our results suggested that the inhalation of the essential oils of Citrus sinensis, Mentha piperita, Syzygium aromaticum, and Rosmarinus officinalis could powerfully relieve exercise-induced fatigue", the reserachers summarize. "The anti-fatigue effect of the inhaled essential oil miture was better than that of peppermint essential oil."

"The putative antifatigue mechanism is the inhibition of the production and accumulation of metabolites, indicated by the reduction of the blood urea nitrogen and blood lactic acid levels in the present study, [...] and the protection of the cell structure from attack and damage after exercising to exhaustion by the high antioxidant activity, as indicated by the enhanced activity of the antioxidant enzymes."

"The results provide an experimental basis for developing a new sort of natural antifatigue spray."

Source:
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2017;2017:5027372.

More:
The stimulatory effect of orange oil aromatherapy 27.06.2017
Drastic increase in endurance capacity by inhaling mint oil and orange oil 13.01.2017

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