16 Fun Facts about Fragrances and Your Sense of Smell

Ever wondered why your mood suddenly shifted when you caught a whiff of something? Maybe someone just walked past you and now you’re irritable and suddenly remember an unpleasant memory?

Well, that’s because fragrances and emotions are closely linked, and a particular scent can trigger a flood of memories and emotions.

Find out more fun facts below!

1. Scent has a very strong link to memory and connects to the emotional regions of the brain more directly than other senses.

2. Scent works differently than our other senses. With sight, sound and taste, information is identified first and then an emotional response follows. But with scents, we first have an emotional reaction and then identify the scent soon after.

3. There are over 10 million smell receptors in your nose, and your brain can process approximately 10,000 different smells on a surface area the size of a postage stamp.
4. Taste is dependent on smell, which is why food is tasteless when you have the flu. Without the agility to smell, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a potato and an onion.

5. Perfume was first used to mask unpleasant body odor when bathing was still considered a luxury and not a matter of hygiene. Perfume was reserved for the rich.

6. Some perfumes contain ingredients derived from animals. For example, ambergris is a rare and expensive ingredient, and is whale vomit produced by the intestines of sperm whales. Some experts conclude that ambergris is actually whale feces.

7. These 6 scents are known to have the following effects on mood:

  • Lavender – soothing, calming effect
  • Citrus – excites and energizes
  • Jasmine – like lavender, calms nerves, but in addition, is also commonly used as an anti-depressant.
  • Rosemary – improves memory retention and fights physical exhaustion, headaches and mental fatigue.
  • Cinnamon – helps fight mental fatigue and improves concentration
  • Peppermint – stimulates brainstorming and clear thinking

 

8. In addition to pulse points, it is also recommended to apply perfume on your hair because the hair’s oil retains scents longer.

9. Some of the most pleasurable scents include vanilla, some orange scents, cinnamon, crayons, and cookies.

10. You can actually smell feelings of fear and disgust through sweat, and then experience those same emotions, according to a 2012 study.

11. Women have a better sense of smell than men.

12. Your sense of smell is weakest in the morning and increases throughout the day.

13. Each person has their own distinct odor similar to a fingerprint. No two people smell alike, except identical twins.

14. Our sense of smell peaks during late teen years and begins to gradually decline after that.

15. The most pleasurable scent in the UK is freshly baked bread, according to a 2015 poll of 2,000 adults in the UK.

16. You could smell before you were born. Smell is the first sense to develop in unborn babies.

Sources: CleanLink, Parks Candles, Entrepreneur, Alyaka Magazine

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