How your brain is tricking you to relieve the pain with Peppermint Essential oil?

— An Educational Article by Conscious Living Aromas (CLA)

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PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL 10Ml

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On a hot summer evening, I found my dear friend laying on the floor in pain. A headache induced by the previous day’s long and exhausting travel. She asked me if I could apply some balm on her forehead and give her a massage. I said “No, I don’t have any but I will give you a massage nonetheless.” Well, we both agreed that having a pain relieving balm would have definitely accelerated her pain relief process and we started conversing about how does it all happen? If you were to flip any of the store bought pain relieving balms, sprays and lotions, you will, 9/10 times, find this component listed — MENTHOL. So WHY is it included? The main constituent of PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL is MENTHOL However, the menthol used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics it often synthetically produced in a lab affecting it’s qualities and potency. Now, Let’s quicky go back to our school science class where we were first introduced to Sensory neurons, Stimuli and receptors. Sensory neurons are located in the nervous system that convert a specific type of stimulus, via their receptors, into action potential or graded potentials. This process is called sensory transduction (A signal is processed in the brain and an action is taken). There are many external and internal receptors but our Hero( or Heroine or any gender neutral term you may prefer) is the NOCICEPTOR. These are receptors are responsible for processing pain AND temperature changes. The word AND is of significant importance as this is the first part of the trick. So keep this at the back of your mind as you read along. Receptors are sensory neurons whose plasma membrane contains transmembrane proteins that are ION CHANNELS that open in response to particular stimuli. “A single neuron may contain several types of these ion channels and thus be able to respond to several types of stimuli”. This is the second part of the trick. There are three different types of sensory neurons on the skin.

• Aδ (“A-delta”) fibers — They are myelinated (enclosed in a myelin sheath) and can allow an action potential to travel at a rate of about 20 meters/second towards the Central nervous system.

• C fiber — The other type is the more slowly conducting C fiber axons. These only conduct at speeds of around 2 meters/second. This is due to the light or non-myelination of the axon.

• Aβ (“A-beta”) fibers — These are thickly-myelinated fibers and mostly respond to painless stimuli such as light touch.

As a result, pain comes in two phases. The first phase is mediated by the fast-conducting Aδ fibers and the second part due to (Polymodal) C fibers. The pain associated with the Aδ fibers can be associated to an initial extremely sharp pain. The second phase is a more prolonged and slightly less intense feeling of pain as a result of the acute damage. I hope now we all understand how our pain is transformed after being burnt by the hot stove or an extremely hard football kick, over the next couple of days from the day of the incident. There are many Ion channel but we will focus on the most relatable ones in this article: HEAT Ion Channels

• TRPV1 Hot (≥43°C). Also activated by capsaicin, the active ingredient of hot chili peppers, by camphor, by acids (protons), and by pain-inducing products of inflammation.

COLD Ion Channels

• TRPM8 A channel that admits Ca2+ and Na+ in response to moderate cold (<28°C) or menthol (the ingredient that gives mint its “cool” touch and taste)

When sensory nerve fibers are exposed to extremes, they signal pain. However, Menthol triggers the TRPM8 channel only at around 28 degrees which is fairly comfortable for most human beings. Because the Ion channels for Pain AND Cold is the same, the brain temporarily shifts it’s focus from feeling pain to feeling the cold sensation and thus providing us with relief. This is how the brain tricks us but for our own good. It’s all in the mind as they say! So the next time you have mild to moderate muscular pain, a headache or a mild migraine, give the all natural peppermint essential oil a humble chance to heal you.

PRO TIP — when you diffuse Peppermint essential oil in your room, you would feel that the room has become cooler apart from it’s brilliant refreshing aroma even though the temperature in the room hasn’t dropped a degree! It’s not Magic but simple functional Science :)

More Proof?

A research study shows that Peppermint Essential oil is as effective as Intranasal Lidocaine( Anesthetic) relieving migraine headaches . HERE