2013 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages 55-62
In this study, we subjectively examined the effects of plant odors on 26 elderly women (aged 73‒94 years). Odor of orange sweet (Citrus sinensis), lemon (Citrus limon), lavender (Lavandula oifcinalis), rose (Rosa damascena), Taiwan-hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana), limonene, and α-pinene were tested. Water was used as a control. Each oil sample (25 µl or 50 µl) was spotted onto a cotton sheet, placed in a 400-ml polypropylene cup, sealed, and diffused in the cup at 20℃ one night before the experiment. Subjects sniffed each odor once for one min and then verbally reported the strength of the odor and their subjective evaluation. A 5-min interval was maintained between exposures to each odor. Subjective evaluations of 5 types of feelings were recorded. These included,“comfortable‒uncomfortable,”“nostalgic‒novel,”“natural‒artificial,”“relaxed‒exciting,”and“sleepy‒awake.”Data were statistically analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Result were as follows; sweet orange,“relaxed”(p<0.05); lemon,“nostalgic”(p<0.05) and “awake”(p<0.01); lavender,“artificial”(p<0.05) and“awake”(p<0.05); rose,“artificial”(p<0.05),“exciting”(p< 0.05), and“awake”(p<0.05); Taiwan-hinoki and limonene,“awake”(p<0.05); and α-pinene,“novel”(p<0.05).
