Percept Mot Skills. 1999 Jun; 88(3 Pt 1): 756-8.

Lavender aromatherapy in recovery from exercise.

Romine IJ, Bush AM, Geist CR.

Department of Psychology, University of Alaska Fairbanks 99775-6480, USA.

20 men were randomly assigned to a control or an experimental group. After baseline screening, all subjects performed moderate physical exercise for 2 min., then rested for 10 min., during which the experimental group was exposed to lavender aromatherapy. Recovery measures included diastolic and systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, pulse pressure, and heart rate. As the mean difference in diastolic blood pressure fell just short of statistical significance, further study with larger groups is required.