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If you were to list out your senses in order of importance, where would your sense of smell feature? For most people – unless, perhaps, they had a job that required them to have a good sense of smell, such as a chef or winemaker, for example – it would probably be close to the bottom of the list, maybe even at the bottom. Yet, in reality, the sense of smell is very important and can influence your life in many ways. Read on to find out more.
Smell and Memory
The sense of smell is the one that is most closely linked to your memories. Research says that while people can only remember their visual memories with around a fifty percent accuracy rate after three months, they can remember smells with a sixty-five percent accuracy rate. It’s clear that the brain processes these smells in a different way.
You’ll know what we mean if you have ever been going about your daily business and caught the scent of something on the breeze that instantly transports you back to another time. Or perhaps you’ve received your scentmagic.com perfume subscription, and when you smell the fragrance, you are reminded of a particular person or a day in the past.
Smell and Emotion
Closely linked with the idea that smell and memory are inseparable is the theory that smell has a connection to your emotions too. If you smell something that reminds you of the past and it makes you happy, your entire day can be improved.
Smell and Health
The sense of smell can help to diagnose conditions in patients in a variety of different ways. To begin with, some illnesses manifest with, among other symptoms, a smell. This might be highly unpleasant, as would be the case with something like gangrene, or it might be something nicer such as the fruity-smelling breath of someone who has diabetes. Knowing these different smells means that healthcare professionals can diagnose their patients much more quickly.
A loss of smell is another symptom that should be taken seriously. Not only is it something that is linked to COVID-19, but there are a number of other conditions that list it as a symptom, including Parkinson’s disease or brain trauma that might otherwise go undetected.
Smell and Productivity
It’s amazing, but the sense of smell can even have an influence on our work. Studies have shown that certain smells have created a much more alert and much more productive workforce. One of these smells was lemon which, during the experiment, was diffused throughout an office. Productivity rates went up.
If you want to be more productive, try using lemon oil on your desk. This is particularly effective in the afternoon when you might lose more energy since it will keep you much more awake. Coffee is another good smell to have in your office. Since many of us drink coffee in the morning to wake us up, simply smelling it does the same thing, although to a much lesser extent.
