The Key To Fighting Depression Has Been Under Our Noses This Whole Time

Taken from Higher Perspective, March 2, 2015

Spiritual leaders contend that burning incense is good for your spirit and uplifting for your soul. Researchers have discovered that it’s also good for your brain too!

A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have found that burning frankincense activates ion channels in the brain and alleviates depression and anxiety.

“In spite of information stemming from ancient texts, constituents of Bosweilla had not been investigated for psychoactivity,” said Raphael Mechoulam, co-author of the study. “We found that incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behavior. Apparently, most present day worshipers assume that incense burning has only a symbolic meaning.”

The researchers administered the incensole acetate to mice and found that the compound affected the areas in the brain known to be involved with emotions. Additionally, nerve circuits that affect anxiety and depression drugs were also impacted.

“Perhaps Marx wasn’t too wrong when he called religion the opium of the people: morphine comes from poppies, cannabinoids from marijuana, and LSD from mushrooms; each of these has been used in one or another religious ceremony.” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “Studies of how those psychoactive drugs work have helped us understand modern neurobiology.

The discovery of how incensole acetate, purified from frankincense, works on specific targets in the brain should also help us understand diseases of the nervous system. This study also provides a biological explanation for millennia-old spiritual practices that have persisted across time, distance, culture, language, and religion–burning incense really does make you feel warm and tingly all over!”

Sadly, the National Institutes of Health says that major depressive disorder is the top cause of disability in the United States for people between the ages of 15 and 44. About 15 million adults in the US are impacted by depression. With any luck, this research could lead us to new cures for this debilitating illness.