Blog: Brain Fog & Essential Oils – Can Aromatherapy Help?

You walk into a room and completely forget why you’re there. You lose your train of thought halfway through a sentence. You know the word you want to say, but it just won’t come. Or perhaps concentrating on something that would normally be simple suddenly feels like hard work.

Sound familiar?

Brain fog is something I hear women talking about frequently, particularly during perimenopause and menopause. But hormonal changes aren’t the only reason we might experience that fuzzy, forgetful feeling. Stress, poor sleep, overwhelm, illness and simply having too much going on can all affect how mentally sharp we feel.

As an aromatherapist, one area I find particularly fascinating is the relationship between our sense of smell and our brain.

And there’s some interesting research exploring how certain aromas may influence memory and cognitive performance.

Why is smell so powerful?

Think about a smell that instantly transports you somewhere.

Perhaps it’s a perfume that reminds you of someone, freshly cut grass taking you back to childhood summers, or a particular food that reminds you of your grandparents.

We often experience incredibly strong emotional and autobiographical responses to scent because our olfactory system has close connections with brain regions involved in emotion and memory.

Researchers have been investigating whether we can make use of this relationship more deliberately.

🌿 Rosemary essential oil and memory

Rosemary is probably one of the most interesting essential oils when we start looking at aroma and cognitive performance.

In research by Mark Moss and colleagues, participants completed memory tasks while Rosemary essential oil (chemotype cineole) was diffused into the room.

One study reported that the group exposed to Rosemary demonstrated around 13% greater accuracy on one measure of memory performance compared with the control group.

Further research comparing different aromas also produced interesting findings for Rosemary and Peppermint, including differences in aspects of memory performance.

It doesn't mean inhaling Rosemary is going to magically fix brain fog or give you a perfect memory!

But it does make the relationship between aroma, attention and memory an interesting area to explore.

🌱 Peppermint when you're feeling mentally sluggish

Peppermint is another aroma that has been studied in relation to cognitive performance.

Its fresh, cooling aroma can also simply feel invigorating, which is why I like it as part of an aromatherapy ritual when you're feeling mentally tired or struggling to get going.

Think of those afternoons when your brain has decided it's finished for the day... but unfortunately your to-do list hasn't!

Using an aroma can become a simple sensory cue that says:

It's time to focus.

🍋 Could scent actually help us remember?

This is perhaps my favourite part.

Have you ever considered deliberately using a particular smell when you're learning something?

It's called olfactory context-dependent memory.

The idea is relatively simple: experience a particular aroma while learning information and then encounter that same aroma when you need to recall it.

A 2010 study exposed participants to either Rosemary or Lemon aroma while they completed a task involving words.

When their memory was later tested, participants exposed to the same scent during learning and recall performed significantly better than those whose scent context changed.

It's such an interesting concept.

Imagine you're revising for an exam, learning a presentation or studying something new.

You might use a particular aroma while you're learning and then use the same aroma again when you want to retrieve that information.

🌿 Creating your own Focus Ritual

You don't need to make this complicated.

Choose an aroma you enjoy and associate it specifically with periods when you want to concentrate.

You could use:

Rosemary – fresh and stimulating

Peppermint – cooling and invigorating

Lemon – bright, fresh and uplifting

You might diffuse your chosen essential oil while you're working or studying, or use a personal aromatherapy inhaler.

A roller can also form part of the ritual, although remember that the aroma itself is what we're interested in here – so simply applying a roller without actually smelling the aroma isn't the point!

Take a moment.

Inhale the aroma.

Breathe.

Allow it to become your little signal that it's time to focus.

Over time, you may begin to associate that particular scent with your working or studying routine.

🧠 What about menopausal brain fog?

If you're in perimenopause or menopause and wondering why you suddenly can't remember why you've opened the fridge for the third time today, you're certainly not the only woman talking about it.

Changes in memory and concentration are commonly reported during the menopause transition.

Essential oils aren't going to address the underlying hormonal changes causing those symptoms, and persistent or concerning changes in memory or cognition should always be discussed with an appropriate healthcare professional.

But that doesn't mean aromatherapy can't have a place within your wider wellbeing toolkit.

Perhaps aroma becomes part of your morning routine when you need to feel more alert.

Perhaps you create a focus ritual for your working day.

Or perhaps taking 30 seconds to stop, breathe and inhale an aroma gives your overloaded mind a much-needed moment of pause.

Sometimes wellbeing isn't about finding one thing that fixes everything.

It's about having lots of little tools that help us navigate how we're feeling.

And aromatherapy can be one of them. 🌿

Wendy

The Reiki Room

Relax | Restore | Rebalance

This article is for general wellbeing and educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose or treat brain fog, memory problems or any medical condition. Seek medical advice for new, persistent, worsening or concerning cognitive symptoms.

Further reading: Tisserand Institute, Essential Oils and Cognitive Function – read the article and research overview