Why Exam Students Are Bulk-Buying Rosemary

Ugh, exam season. Even if your school days are behind you, it's hard to forget the desperate nights spent cramming French conjugations or the horror of turning over your test paper to find reams of incomprehensible equations. That's a trauma flashback, right there.

Exams are super stressful. Is it any wonder, then, that British students currently in the midst of their summer exams are turning to herbs for help?

No, not that kind of herb. One that you probably already have in your spice rack: rosemary.

Following the recent publication of a study from Northumbria University, which showed that pupils in a rosemary-scented room performed better in memory tests, health food chain Holland & Barrett has reported a 187-percent increase in sales of rosemary essential oil, compared with last year.

The retailer is attributing this rise to students bulk-buying the oil in the hope that it will help them remember those tricky Lord of the Flies quotes and names of obscure Medieval monarchs. A spokeswoman told the BBC: "As the exam season continues, we have increased provision in store to meet demand."

Folk medicine has long linked rosemary with improved recollection. Students in ancient Greece wore garlands of the stuff and in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia references the herb as being "for remembrance."

The Northumbria study added legitimacy to this received wisdom, showing that rosemary improved pupils' memory test results between 5 and 7 percent. Speaking to the BBC, researcher Mark Moss explained: "It could be that aromas affect electrical activity in the brain or that pharmacologically active compounds can be absorbed."

Whatever the reason, students seem to think it's worth a shot.