Stress Relief Properties of a Cosmetic Routine
Stress Relief Properties of a Cosmetic Routine
Everyday life psychosocial challenges may negatively impact health and well-being,
 contributing to the onset and/or progression of psychological and psychosomatic disorders.
 Pharmacological treatments can moderate our stress response, but they usually bring about
 addiction/tolerance and a number of other side effects. Therefore, it is relevant to identify
 alternative stress relief strategies that are devoid of these unwanted drawbacks. Moreover,
 the effects of such alternative interventions should be objectively quantified by means of
 reliable psychobiological parameters. The goal of this study was to quantify the acute and
 persistent effects of a cosmetic routine based on the self-administration of a cream enriched
 with essential oils, namely Juniperus Phoenicea gum extract, Copaifera Officinalis resin,
 Aniba Rosodora wood oil, and Juniperus Virginiana. This aim was achieved by measuring the
 (re-)activity of the autonomic nervous system (via heart variability indexes) and the
 hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (via salivary cortisol levels), as well as through
 psychometric and behavioral assessments.

 Participants' informed consent signature for adhesion at the study was initially requested.
 With their acceptance, parameters were recorded anonimously, identified by their initials and
 an alphanumeric code.

 Data were transferred on Excel worksheets, utilized for descriptive analysis related at every
 variable. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 25 software package and
 statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
Everyday life psychosocial challenges may negatively impact health and well-being,
 contributing to the onset and/or progression of psychological and psychosomatic disorders.
 Pharmacological treatments can moderate our stress response, but they usually bring about
 addiction/tolerance and a number of other side effects. Therefore, it is relevant to identify
 alternative stress relief strategies that are devoid of these unwanted drawbacks. Moreover,
 the effects of such alternative interventions should be objectively quantified by means of
 reliable psychobiological parameters.

 The goal of this study was to quantify the acute and persistent effects of a cosmetic routine
 based on the self-administration of a cream (DAVC) enriched with essential oils, namely
 Juniperus Phoenicea gum extract, Copaifera Officinalis resin, Aniba Rosodora wood oil,
 Juniperus Virginiana. This aim was achieved by measuring the (re-)activity of the autonomic
 nervous system (via heart variability indexes) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical
 axis (via salivary cortisol levels), as well as through psychometric and behavioral
 assessments.

 Fourty women, 25-50 years old, were instructed for a correct mode of self administration of
 the cream. On day 0, women came to the lab and were instrumented for electrocardiographic
 signal (ECG) recordings. Initially, a 10-min ECG was collected in resting conditions
 (baseline). Then, two 20-min ECGs were recorded, each following the self-administration
 (3-min duration) of the DAVC and a placebo cream (PLAC), in a randomized order. At the end of
 the baseline and the two post-cream administration recordings, saliva samples were collected.
 From day 1 to 28, subjects self-administered (at home, twice a day, at wake-up and bed time)
 either DAVC (n=20) or PLAC (n=20).

 On day 29, they returned to the lab and ECGs and underwent a stress test (Trier Social Stress
 Test, TSST). The test lasted 10 min and consisted in a stress interview (5 min), immediately
 followed by an arithmetic task. ECGs were collected in baseline (10 min), test (10 min), and
 recovery (20 min) phases. Saliva samples were collected at the end of the baseline and the
 middle and the end of the recovery phase. The subjects filled a number of psychological
 questionnaires, including Profile of Mood States (POMS, on day 0 and 29) and STAI-Y1 (on day
 29). In addition, subjects were videorecorded during the TSST, in order to quantify their non
 verbal behavior patterns (via ECSI).

 A single, self-administration of DAVC (day 0) produced a significant, acute potentiation of
 parasympathetic neural modulation (HF index: 25% increase as to baseline), whereas PLAC
 produced only a modest change (3% increase). DAVC provoked a modest (10%), non significant
 reduction of cortisol levels, which was similar to that induced by PLAC.

 Prolonged DAVC self-administration (4 weeks) produced: (i) a significant inhibition of
 stress-induced cortisol elevation on day 29 (55% increase as compared to pre-stress value in
 DAVC group, 75% in PLAC group); (ii) a significant improvement of mood profile (POMS test) on
 day 29 compared to day 0; (iii) a reduction of perceived anxiety (STAI-Y1 score) at the end
 of the TSST; (iv) significantly lower scores of behavioral patterns linked to anxiety,
 motivational conflict and avoidance and higher scores of affiliation during the TSST, as
 compared to PLAC group.

 These autonomic neural, neuroendocrine and psychological data suggest that a cream enriched
 with essential oils has both acute and long-term stress-reduction effects on human
 psychophysiology. Acute effects involve a potentiation of the parasympathetic component of
 autonomic neural regulation, which is usually associated with well-being, relaxation and
 resilience. The long-term effects point to a generalized stress-relief property, involving
 both the hormonal and psychological sides of stress adaptation.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  female gender

 -  25 to 50 years old

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  current or past neurological, psychiatric, and cardiac disorders

 -  cognitive impairment

 -  substance or alcohol abuse or dependence

 -  recent (last 12 months) traumatic events such as a death in the family, serious
 accident, job firing or divorce

 -  caregiving (last 12 months) a family member with serious pathology or disability

 -  current psychotropic or contraceptive drug use