Why Smell is Important to Brain Function

A long time ago, even before I was born, smell was considered an important sense. It warned us of toxic berries on plants, poisons in food, rancidity of meat, and unpleasant people smells. We needed our noses to navigate the day. We stopped growing our own food, refrigeration extended the life of spoilable foods, and people finally took more showers. Or bought better cologne, which masked their unpleasant smell. From this, the perfume industry was born.

As far as medicine was concerned, Western medicine long thought that smell did not have much impact beyond an emotional or hunger response. We are drawn to food that smells good, and people produce pheromones, which attract mates. Whether we realize it or not, we are influenced by our olfactory sense. 

The Eastern, Ayurvedic, and Native American holistic traditions prevailed as Western medicine leaned toward strict, reproducible, repeatable science. Nature doesn’t always work like that, nor does it work the same way in every person. 

However, while mapping the olfactory system, neuroscientists see results from smell. 10% (that’s a lot) of our genes are dedicated to sensing aromas, and humans can distinguish between 2,000 to 4,000 different aromas (that’s even more). Our sense of smell is 10,000 times more sensitive than our sense of taste. Our brain responds strongly to smell. We can improve how well we move by engaging our brain through our sense of smell. I know, crazy, yeah?

When you smell roses, the neighborhood bakery, or meat grilling in the backyard, the molecules of aroma travel to the olfactory epithelium, the cilia, located in each nostril. Stay with me here. The cilia send signals to the olfactory bulbs (the smellers), located on each side of the brain. From there, signals move along to the limbic system in the frontal lobe for interpretation, to the hippocampus for memory, and to the amygdala for emotional response. They also travel to the hypothalamus, which triggers glandular responses, the pituitary gland (controlling hormones) being one of them. The signals travel to the cerebellum, affecting coordination of the body. The more coordinated the body, the better you move.

If you want to improve your movement patterns, incorporate smell. Hey, what can it hurt? And what if it helps? How will you explain that, Skeptic? If the bakery smell is too tempting, try an essential oil: lavender, rose, sandalwood, lemon, pine.

Aging Intelligently is about thinking outside the box. The status quo is not working. Try something new.

That’s Aging Intelligently.

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