Contribution of traditional medicinal and aromatic plants species on elderly health care

Abstract

Medicinal and aromatic plants are the essential lifeline for the survival of human life on earth for centuries. Aromatherapy is the art and science of utilizing naturally extracted aromatic essences from plants to balance and harmonise the human body. There are three different types of aromatherapy used clinical, holistic and aesthetic. Clinical aromatherapy helps relieve stress and anxiety. Holistic aromatherapy improves the overall wellbeing, focuses on the whole person and enhances the quality of life. Thus, this research aims to educate the elderly regarding the importance of medicinal and aromatic plants against health care. A Mix method approach has been used in this study. 200 set of questionnaires was distributed to the elderly respondents while 100 respondents agreed to be interviewed. The results indicate that knowledge level score related to medicinal and aromatic plants and 24 aromatic and medicinal plant species that have been used by the elderly such as Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali), Labisia pumila (Kacip Fatimah) and Centella asiatica (Pegaga).