日本香粧品学会誌

Vol.Inﬂuence38, No. 2,ofpp.
Counseling
81–86（2014）
Intervention on the Effectiveness of Aromatherapy with Bergamot Oil

81〈Regular Article〉

Inﬂuence of Counseling Intervention on the Effectivenessof Aromatherapy with Bergamot Oil in Healthy Women
Volunteers Measured with a Brain Monitoring System
Minae ISAWA*, 1, Shio INOUE1, Hiroshi ITOH1,Tomohiro NISHIMURA1, Masatoshi TOMI1, Hideyo SHIMADA2,
Hidetsugu SAITO1, Emi NAKASHIMA1(Accepted: December 11, 2013)

Abstract
There is growing evidence that aromatherapy can improve mood. Since pharmacists may be requested to counsel patients about aromatherapy, this study was designed to evaluate the inﬂuence of counseling on the effectiveness of aromatherapy in 14 healthy young women. Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire (motivation, feeling of drowsiness andgeneral fatigue) and multi-dimensional fatigue inventory-20 (MFI-20) in a room ﬁlled with the fragrance of bergamot, withor without counseling. Further, as an objective measure of changes in stress, blood ﬂow in the inferior frontal cortex wasevaluated by means of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). MFI-20 showed that aromatherapy with counseling signiﬁcantly
improved activity and motivation, as compared to aromatherapy only. The self-reported questionnaire showed no signiﬁcantdifference. Regional blood ﬂow in the inferior frontal cortex was signiﬁcantly decreased by exposure to aromatherapy withcounseling, compared to aromatherapy alone (p＜0.01, p＜0.05). The value of the laterality index (LI) derived from NIRS
measurements, which is considered to be a measure of stress, was decreased by aromatherapy with counseling, indicatingthat bergamot oil reduces stress. Overall, the results indicated that counseling intervention markedly increased the effectiveness of aromatherapy.
Key words:
1.

aromatherapy, inﬂuence of counseling, near-infrared spectroscopy, the laterality index.

Introduction

Aromatherapy has been utilized in medical practice since
antiquity, and continues to be widely used, especially inFrance, Germany and across Europe1). It is considered to besafe2), 3), and is prescribed by doctors4). There have been limited investigations of its efﬁcacy, but it has not been used muchin Japan5)–7).
We previously examined the effect of aromatherapy on
blood ﬂow in the inferior frontal cortex, which is related tocognitive function, using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)8).
Although aromatherapy appeared to improve general fatigue,and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex blood ﬂow, there were substantial inter-individual differences. NIRS has also been used
to examine the effect of stress-coping strategy in depressedpatients9), who characteristically show activation of theamygdala and inactivation of prefrontal cortex. Counseling
was reported to increase the effectiveness of anti-depression
medication10). Further, aromatherapy with lavender improved
mood and decreased stress11), 12).
Here, we aimed to examine the effectiveness of counselingas a means of improving the stress-reducing efﬁcacy ofaromatherapy with bergamot oil by using a self-reported questionnaire and multi-dimensional fatigue inventory-20 (MFI1,* Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University (1–5–30 Shiba-kouen,Minato-ku, Tokyo 105–8512, Japan)
連絡先 E-mail: isawa-mn@pha.keio.ac.jp

20) as subjective indicators and NIRS-evaluated blood ﬂow in
the inferior frontal cortex as an objective indicator.
This study was approved by the Keio University Faculty ofPharmacy Medical Ethics Board (permission number 1203012), and was registered at University Hospital Medical Information Network (http: //www.umin.ac.jp, registration number
UMIN 000011228).
2.

Methods

2–1. Aroma oil
Citrus Bergamia ( Seikatsu no Ki , Lot No. 2) was used as
bergamot oil. Six drops of oil were added to 80 ml of water (4％ solution), and the solution was placed in a diffuser (Aromadelight, YCHO-JIN). The diffuser was run in the test room(size 73.1 m2) during the trial.
2–2. Subjects
Females from 22 to 28 years old, working in the Faculty ofPharmacy in Keio University campus, were recruited toparticipate. Participants who disliked the smell of bergamot
were excluded. Ultimately 14 participants were selected forthe study. All subjects gave prior written consent after having
been informed as to the study aims, procedures, and safety
and privacy issues. Average age of the 14 female participants
2Shimada Clinic (2–11–1 Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101–0047, Japan)