Incense
and health
|
Is
incense bad for your health? To start with the bad news: burning incense is
indeed bad for your health. Maybe you have seen the windows of a stove or the
inside of a chimney pipe: brown, black, and stinking. Being a chimney sweeper
was a dirty profession because all of those by products that are released
from a fire. But is burning an incense stick then the same as a
fire? Basically yes. You can do the following experiment : hold a piece of
acrylic glass or another smooth material for a while above a burning incense
stick. After a couple of minutes you can feel that the surface has become a
little sticky. When you burn more under this surface you will see that it
will slowly become brown. This brown substance is called creosote and is a
blend of all kinds of uncombusted organic chemicals like aldehydes and
acrolein. And it is obvious you don't want to have this in your lungs! You
can extend the experiment by burning various different things under your
smooth surface, different incenses, or a cigarette. The news is getting worse: In Taiwan they did
research about incense and cancer, and the conclusion was that monks who had
been long in a monastery and who had been busy with burning Sandalwood-their
type of incense-had a bigger risk of cancer. (link) Only one conclusion possible : incense can harm your
health. Using
incense sensibly Yet I wouldn't be a dutch shaman if it was really so
harmful. Has anybody ever warned you that walking in the city is dangerous
because of the exhaust fumes that you inhale, or that living in an urban
region gives an enhanced risk of cancer, only because of the gas cars
produce? Did you hear that the
RamsesII statue is taken away out of Cairo because it detoriated too
much through the combined gas production of cars and factories? And did they
tell you the that you can't come in
town because it is unhealthy? No of course not and that is because in reality
those consequenses are not as grave as they would seem. Your body for
example, has a big self-cleaning property. The respiratory organs are
equipped with so-called vibratarory hairs that are constantly busy
transporting dirt to the outside, as innocent snot bubbles making your
neighbour disgust. Look, only when you remain for a long time in the smoke,
your body can't handle it and the creosote will lock up in the lungs, just as
with smokers. These Taiwanese monks were already their whole lives in the
smoke, and that is bad. A superscientific research is not necessary , with
just a little common sense you can come to the same conclusion. I can give
you the following tips if you want to use incense, and at same time
watch your health: ·
Never go with your nose
above an incense stick. The effect is contrary cause the nasal organ freezes
so that you will perceive nothing. Just let the smoke dissolve itself quietly
through the space, and when it is a good incense you'll notice soon how the
atmosphere changes through it. ·
Take care for good
ventilation while you are using incense. Of course it is fun so now and then
that the whole room is full of smoke, but limit these occasions to the very
special ones and take care that there is always a little window open. By the
way, Oxygen is really good smelling! ·
When you are allergic for
essential oils I recommend you not to use incense. Most incense from the
shops is a blend of wood, charcoal and perfume oils and especially the
quality and the composition of the oil have a connection with health. With
biological oils you might be able to withstand those better. The incense
sticks that I sell on this site only contain natural substances, are
biological in that respect, but for the same reason produce slightly more
creosote. Stick on a charcoal base have that less. When you are liable to
have asthma I recommend you to limit your enjoyment of incense to a minimum. |