insideKENT Magazine Issue 35 - February 2015 | Page 102

HEALTH+WELLNESS

fragrance psychology
A sense of smell is a primal thing; a useful and potentially lifesaving tool that was used by our Neanderthal
ancestors to sniff out food and danger. Despite this, however, modern humans’ sense of smell is actually
better than that of the Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens thanks to an increase in the size of our
olfactory bulbs (located at the front of the brain, this handy little piece of ourselves is what is responsible
for sending messages to our brains about the smells we pick up). BY LISAMARIE LAMB'

But if our sense of smell is better now than it has ever been, are we actually
using it to its full potential? Studies show that we are most likely not.
Since we no longer require our sense of smell to keep us alive (although
being able to sniff out off milk is pretty useful), what is it actually good for?
Psychologists suggest that humans could, if we learn to use our bodies
correctly, use scents and fragrances to keep us happy. As it turns out,
smells can change our mood in an instant, so it is worth our while to keep
the good ones around us as much as possible.
Have you ever suddenly felt on edge or agitated for seemingly no reason?
Or perhaps you’ve gone from feeling down to feeling happy in an instant (or
vice versa). Maybe you’ve experienced a strange sense of déjà vu, or even
had a memory of your childhood surface out of nowhere. If this has happened
– and the likelihood is that it has – it could well be because your olfactory
bulb has picked up a scent from somewhere and that scent is having a
major effect on your brain.

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Memory and the sense of smell are
inextricably linked, giving humans
the perfect blend of nostalgia and
good feelings whenever they want
or need it – assuming they are
smelling the right scent. Get it
wrong, and your mood could
plummet. You might even become
irrationally angry if your brain latches
on to a smell that brings back bad
memories.
A freshly baked cake could put you
in mind of a kindly grandmother,
and your mood will be lifted. Cut
grass could send you straight back
to being a young child and playing

out in the sunshine – instant joy.
But a hint of a perfume that, despite
being pleasant enough, fills you with
dread could ruin the whole day
thanks to its lingering bad smell.
You might never know why, or even
link your bad mood to that particular
scent, but it can easily happen.
Maybe someone who you disliked
as a child – a mean teacher, or a
bully’s mother, for example – wore
that perfume and, even though you
had forgotten all about it, the smell
has brought it all back.
It’s not just mood that is affected
by fragrances either – how we