Shakespeare was right! Sniffing essential oil of the herb rosemary can increase your memory, according to a new study.
UK researchers found that essential oil of rosemary boosted healthy adults' ability to remember to perform future tasks and recall past events.
Rosemary has long been linked to memory and fidelity, and was used by ancient Egyptians in weddings and funeral rituals.
English playwright and poet William Shakespeare was aware of its properties. In his play 'Hamlet', Ophelia remarks: "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance."
In the new study, the improvement in participants' memory was unrelated to their mood, suggesting rosemary oil was having a chemical influence which improved their memory, The Telegraph reported.
Researchers, who will present their findings at the British Psychological Society's annual conference in Harrogate today, said the results could improve the everyday lives of people with age-related memory loss.
"We wanted to build on our previous research that indicated rosemary aroma improved long-term memory and mental arithmetic," Dr Mark Moss, who led the study, said.
"We focused on prospective memory, which involves the ability to remember events that will occur in the future and to remember to complete tasks at particular times this is critical for everyday functioning," Moss said.
Sixty-six participants were divided into two groups and asked to wait in different rooms, one of which had been scented with rosemary essential oil.
The volunteers completed a series of memory tests, which included hiding objects and finding them again at a later stage, or passing a specified object to a researcher at a particular time which had been specified earlier.
People who had been assigned to the rosemary-scented room performed better at both types of test, and were also found to have higher levels of 1,8-cineole, a compound found in rosemary oil, in their blood.
The compound has previously been shown to influence chemical systems in the body which affect memory.
