The Underrated Sense

When it comes to rank our senses by their importance for us, our sense of smell is usually underrated by most of us.

For the article “Your Money or Your Sense of Smell? A Comparative Analysis of the Sensory and Psychological Value of Olfaction” by Dr. Rachel Herz* 407 persons were asked in a survey if they would rather give up their sense of smell, hearing or vision if they were forced to. A stunning figure of 84.6% said they would give up their sense of smell and 19.2% even said they would choose their phone over their sense of smell!

Attempts of Explanation

But why is this particular sense so underrated? Why do we have the feeling that we would rather give up our sense of smell than our phone? I mean...our PHONE!?! One reason might be that much of our sense of smell is subconscious. A lot of it works hidden from our conscious mind, unlike our other senses. So we simply don’t recognize how amazing our sense of smell is. Scents are strongly connected to our memories and emotions, they play a huge role for our overall well being and (mental) health and still the sense of smell is underrated. Another reason is probably also the perception science had for almost the last 150 years. It was a widespread assumption that our sense of smell is not as good as it is from other mammals like dogs, mice, rats. Thankfully scientists today are proving now that our sense of smell is actually not as bad as its reputation but it’s still in our head that this sense would not be as important to us as other senses. ** 

 Covid 19 and especially its symptom of loss of smell shed a different light on it. With many people suffering from anosmia (loss of smell) due to a Covid 19 infection it became much more obvious how scents and the ability to smell them affect our quality of life. 

Smell Training can help

 When one lost its sense of smell, smell training can help. Smell training means sniffing on four things that have a distinctive, easily identifiable and familiar smell - for example, oranges, mint, garlic or lavender - twice a day for several months. 

Because of the neuroplasticity of our brain it is possible that the pathways in our brain for smell are rebuild. Which is (again – I know I tend to be very enthusiastic when it comes to our sense of smell) amazing! *** According to Amber Luong, MD, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Scent cells are renewed every 30 to 60 days. The sense of smell is the only cranial nerve — nerves that emerge from the brain and control bodily functions including eye movement, hearing, taste, and vision — that can regenerate, says Luong. **** 

Stories and Scents are a strong Combination

 But as amazing as this is, smell training can become a bit dull over the weeks and months. While I was having a chat to one of the leading scientists in olfactory research in Germany it became clear that many patients don’t follow it as they should because it is boring. Stories might help here! Stories keep our brain engaged and can help us to stay focused on this task. This is again something where the combination of Stories and Scents just makes scents!