04/10/2023
Another potentially beneficial use for this popular essential oil 💚
Can essential oils make our roads safer? Mark Moss and his team decided to investigate this very question, more specifically the effect of Peppermint essential oil aroma on aggressive driving.
The study took 50 volunteers and divided them into intervention and control group. Virtual reality driving simulator was used to assess how often they showed aggressive driving behaviors. Each group first spent 5 minutes in a calm driving situation to get habituated to the simulator, and after a short break the settings were adjusted to create an aggression inducing driving experience (sudden breaking from other drivers, being cut off without indication etc.).
Twenty-five participants were assigned to the aroma intervention group. An electric fan diffuser with 5 drops of pure Peppermint oil was turned on 30 minutes prior to and then during the session. The aroma was not mentioned to the participants until after the experiment to prevent bias due to expectations. Peppermint oil was chosen due to previous research done on alertness while driving.
Aggressive driving score included the following behaviors: verbal insults towards other drivers, violating signs, cutting another vehicle off, speeding, not using single indicators, braking abruptly or without a reason, tailgating and rushed overtaking. Driving scores were measured for each group with the help of the driving simulator software and two researchers present in the room.
The study showed a significantly lower aggressive driving scores in the Peppermint aroma group compared to control. Interestingly no significant differences were observed between male and female drivers.
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