Herbal medicine often complements conventional treatments, providing safe, well-tolerated remedies for chronic illnesses. It is experiencing a dramatic renaissance in Western countries, partly because no effective conventional treatment as yet exists for many chronic illnesses, such as asthma, arthritis, and irritable bowel syndrome. In addition, concern over the side effects of biomedicine is encouraging people to look for more gentle forms of treatment. It is estimated that 10–20% of hospital patients in the West are there due to the side effects of conventional medical treatment.

Today, herbal remedies are coming back into prominence because the efficacy of conventional medicines such as antibiotics, which once had near-universal effectiveness against serious infections, is on the wane. Over the years, infectious organisms have developed resistance to synthesized drugs, and the herb sweet wormwood and its active constituent artemisinin, for example, are now the standard treatment for malaria in tropical areas where the protozoa causing the infection no longer respond to conventional treatment

Aromatherapy involves using high-quality essential oils entering the body via the airway or skin. When the first route is used, essential oils are inhaled; room aromatization is less common. In direct aromatherapy, essential oils, diluted in water or a fatty carrier, are applied directly to the skin. Numerous aromatherapeutic methods and preparations are available, providing a wide range of application options. Aromatherapeutic procedures or their elements can be used for therapeutic, cosmetic, or marketing purposes. A suitable choice of high-quality essential oils and the safety of their use is pivotal to successful aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy is the use of natural essential oils of a definite origin. Aromatherapy involves the use of high-quality essential oils entering the body via the airway or skin

essential oils are obtained from raw plant materials (flowers, leaves, roots, herbs, wood, bark, branches, seeds, fruits, etc.) by distillation with water vapor or water, squeezing or spinning of fruit peels or dry distillation of wood. Moreover, maceration and extraction are applied. These processes require chemical solvents, however, their residues can remain in the final product, i.e. the essential oil. Therefore, only oils obtained by natural methods are recommended for aromatherapy procedures. The remaining products can be applied only for room aromatization or as the ingredients of fragrant compositions