[Influence of essential oils of plants on mental performance of elderly people.]

Abstract

The effect of essential oils (EOs) of 22 species and varieties of essential oil plants on the mental performance of elderly people when they inhaled air containing EOs in a gaseous state at a concentration of 1 mg/m3 of air was studied. For the study, a word recognition test with missing letters and a proofreading test were used. It has been established that recognition of words with missing letters is stimulated for a short (10-20 min) duration of exposure to EOs, and then the effect fades away. On the contrary, the greatest increase in the pace of performing the correction test occurs during the 30-minute period of exposure to EOs. EOs of rosemary, garden savory, catnip, small marigolds, peppermint varieties Udaychanka and Ukrainian, and cloves accelerate both the recognition of words with missing letters (with short-term exposure to EO) and the speed of completing the proofreading test (with long-term exposure to EO).