There is a lot of confusion about exactly what natural medicine is. Is aromatherapy effective? Is it a con? What does it really do? In this article I’d like to describe the background to natural medicine, and maybe clear up many of the confusion surrounding it.

Natural medicine is purely the use of traditional remedies, natural methods, and herbal medicines, to combat illness. Most cultures in the world have a deep history of natural medicine. Many types of healing methods, such as alternative medicine, fall under the term natural medicine.

A number of herbal medicines have been around for thousands of years in Chinese and Indian society. Natural medicines tend to be inexpensive and risk free, in stark contrast to many modern manufactured drugs, and have few if any side effects.

Since the creation of the ever present penicillin, traditional natural medicine have fallen out of favour or been forgotten. However, alternative treatments like aromatherapy are making a comback. More and more doctors are starting to recognise their benefits, and many scientific studies are being conducted to measure their effectiveness against modern drug therapy.

With more people becoming aware of the sheer amount of chemicals we put into our bodies - either from medicine or food - natural medicine is clearly becoming a more acceptable treatment in our modern society.