We underestimate the importance of our sense of smell

[Guest guest]

barbara.lantin

We underestimate the importance of our sense of smell

to our wellbeing - as Barbara Lantin discovered when

she lost hers

 

It was when my children sniffed the fish meant for

supper and reeled backwards, holding their noses and

pretending to vomit, that I knew I had to do something

about my missing sense of smell. Until then, I had

considered its absence inconvenient and somewhat

depressing - mainly because I could not taste anything

properly. Suddenly, I realised it could seriously

damage my health.

A girl smelling daffodils

Smell plays a subtle part in many aspects of life

 

" Smell is the Cinderella sense, " says Dr Glenys

Scadding, consultant allergist and rhinologist at the

Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in

London. " One per cent of our DNA is devoted to it - a

huge amount. Two to three per cent of the population

have a reduced sense of smell and these people often

get quite depressed, because it is as if all the

colour is washed out of life. They are also in danger

because they cannot detect fire, gas leaks or rotten

food. "

 

According to Prof Tim Jacob, of the School of

Biosciences at Cardiff University: " We certainly

underestimate the importance of smell to our

wellbeing. There are suggestions that it can influence

mood, memory, emotions, mate choice, and the immune

and endocrine systems. Every experience has a smell

associated with it and people with anosmia - a reduced

sense of smell - do not have access to that memory

link.

 

" Anosmia can affect people socially, psychologically

and physiologically. It can lead to loss of libido -

because a lot of human interaction is down to smell -

and weight loss or gain, because people with no sense

of taste either forget to eat or overcompensate by

eating too much. "

 

The most common cause of smell loss is a nasal

blockage, usually - as in my case - due to polyps.

Damage to the olfactory nerves from a heavy cold,

trauma or inhaling certain chemicals has the same

effect. Some illnesses, including Parkinson's and

schizophrenia, impair the ability to smell, and loss

of olfactory sensitivity can be an early indicator of

Alzheimer's.

 

Surgery used to be the only treatment for polyps, but

doctors now carry out medical polypectomies using

short-term oral and nasal steroids followed by mild

steroid drops. This approach worked for me and though

I'll never make a wine taster or a parfumeur, I can

now tell when the fish is off.

 

Individual smell

 

" We all have our own unique smell by which we can be

recognised, " says Prof Jacob. " Children can

distinguish between the smell of their siblings and

other children of the same age. Babies recognise their

own mother's smell and mothers recognise their own

baby's. "

 

Research has shown that emotions, including fear,

happiness and sexual arousal, can be communicated

through smell. " Recent research has shown that women

can discriminate between armpit swabs taken from

people watching 'happy' and 'sad' films, though men

were less good at this, " says Prof Jacob. Women have a

more acute sense of smell, particularly during

ovulation and pregnancy.

 

Scent and attraction

 

The role of smell in sexual attraction is more complex

than perfume makers would have us believe. Pheromones,

powerful chemicals emitted from the skin, are not

smelled consciously, but are thought to be detected by

the vomeronasal organ, a receptor in the nose.

 

" Smell is a very important component in partner

choice, " says Prof Jacob, " because we are attracted to

people with a dissimilar immune system to our own - so

that our offspring have increased disease resistance -

and your immune system determines your odour type. "

 

But male sweat is not an irresistible turn-on, he

says.

 

" The male pheromone androstenol, the scent produced by

fresh male sweat, is attractive to females, " says Kate

Fox, author of the Social Issues Research Council's

Smell Report. " But androstenone, produced by male

sweat after exposure to oxygen - in other words, when

less fresh - is perceived as highly unpleasant. "

 

Aromatherapy

 

Different smells can produce various physiological

effects, but it is not known exactly how. Studies show

that aromatherapy treatments can reduce stress.

Lavender has been shown to improve sleep and rosemary

to act as a stimulant. When the air in a Moscow

classroom was scented with peppermint, pupils

performed better in some tests.

 

Some experts put these results down to conditioning,

but Dr Judy Howie, an aromatherapist and scientist at

Thames Valley University, believes that there is more

to aromatherapy than mere suggestion.

 

" Certain components in aromatherapy oils interact with

various biochemical receptors in the nervous system to

help rebalance the body, " she says. " The combination

of emotional and physiological effects occurring at

the same time can be very powerful. "

 

Smell and memory

 

" Whole memories, complete with associated emotions,

can be prompted by smell and this is entirely

unconscious, " says Prof Jacob. This key to our sense

of smell lies not in the nose but much farther up the

nasal passage, in the olfactory epithelium, which

contains olfactory receptor cells. These are directly

connected to the limbic system, the most ancient and

primitive part of the brain, thought to be the seat of

emotion - which may explain why odours can trigger

deep-seated feelings and memories. Although the sense

of smell diminishes as we get older, odour memory

remains when other recollections have faded.

 

barbara.lantin

 

 

Best regards,

Carol

 

_______________________________

Never Accept Only Two Choices in Life.

The problems of Today cannot be solved by the same thinking that created them.

-Al Einstein.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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