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The Power of Scent
The Weekly Close
The Power of Scents
What’s in a smell? Why do we even smell?
One very important component of smell - survival.
Ancestors who could detect threats such as food gone bad and inedible plants were being supported by a helpful survival safety net.
It is also a system that can navigate social bonds, trigger memories, experience pleasure and certain scents may even help your immune system!
For every scent detected, your brain may be querying, "Is this safe? Familiar? Worth remembering?"
The Secret Language of Chemistry
Humans may be able to communicate through chemical messages.
A fascinating study of skydivers found that people could detect fear through scent.
“So it seemed that you could unconsciously detect the smell of fear from another person.
There was a behavioural effect of the fearful sweat. It improved the volunteers' awareness and vigilance. They became 43 per cent more accurate in judging if another person's face was neutral or threatening.”
Nature’s Benefits
Phytoncides are the airborne chemicals trees release. They can work as anti-inflammatories that reduce oxidative stress, enhance sleep via alpha-pinene, reduce cortisol levels, and reduce blood glucose levels.
These tree scents can also reduce stress hormones and boost white blood cells, helping us boost our immune system, just from breathing in fresh forest air.
Have a Tree Break 🌳 Reminder for a tree break during your day. Find the nearest cluster of trees, breathe deeply, and let nature benefit immune system.
Photo Credit: Jay Mantri Unsplash
Smells and Memory Connections 🤝
When you smell fresh-baked cookies, you're not just detecting sugar and vanilla, you're possibly accessing a direct route to your childhood kitchen.
Unlike other senses that filter through the brain's thinking centre, smell connects to areas that store memories and emotions. A single smell can transport you to the past, with startling clarity.
Scientists call this the "Proust effect," named after the writer who famously described how a madeleine cake's aroma unlocked a flood of childhood memories.
“In fact, when you or I smell the same physical thing, our perceptions may be very different,” Beauchamp says.
Because smell information is sent to different parts of the brain, odors can influence many aspects of our lives, such as memory, mood, and emotion.
Your olfactory system formed these neural pathways when you were young, creating links between specific scents and powerful emotions.
Did You Know?
Polar bears… can smell their prey up to 32km away, and can likely smell seals underneath compacted snow or ice from 1km away.
The earthy scent that can be detected when rain falls on dry soil is known as Petrichor.
The number of odours people can detect is somewhere between 10,000 and 100 billion - and possibly even more.
Questions to Ponder
What smells signals that your favourite season has arrived?
Are there certain smells that can lift your mood, that can energise and scents that can help calm?
Peppermint may help people to focus, and lavender could help to calm.
Quote to Ponder
“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived."