Smell is the most neglected of our senses even when we are not depressed. We take it for granted most of the time, as we no longer need it for our physical survival.
But does having a good ability to smell really matter?
Below are some facts (in bold) I enjoyed putting together to convince myself (and hopefully you) that consciously developing your sense of smell is vital in depression recovery.
- We need our sense of smell to have a good sense of taste. It is thought that taste is about 75% smell. Just think how awful everything tastes when you have a cold and cannot smell. So, good ability to smell equals extraordinary experiences of food.
- The average person is able to distinguish approximately 10,000 different odours and point to the direction of where the smell is coming from without looking. The more you can smell, the more exciting and vibrant the world around you will be!
- Smells alter and influence our moods and behaviour fast. Our sense of smell is claimed to connect us to our emotions better than any other sense. I am so pleased that scientists have finally taken the wisdom of Aromatherapy seriously and began to develop a brand new science, Aromachology, which studies the effects of odours on our behaviour.
- Our ability to smell improves as the day gets unravelled, meaning we are less sensitive to smells in the morning. Hang on a minute… Mornings are the most difficult part of the day for a large number of people with depression. So starting your day with some pleasant aromas around you will actually have a positive effect on your mood.
- People with depression usually have no problems recognising and identifying smells, however they appear to have reduced (dulled, muted) sense of smell. While I am amazed and delighted that they found a link between a reduced sense of smell and depression, I would not rush into conclusion that depression causes it or is caused by it just yet. I doubt that this connection is that simple and straightforward to explain.
However, something you can do right here, right now to assist the development of scientific knowledge in this matter.
Please use the comments to leave your answer to the following question: Did you notice that your sense of smell has been affected since you got depressed and if so, how?
You don’t need to use your real name, unless you want to, and your e-mail address is not going to be visible to anyone (except me) or collected into any database.
Stay strong, remain hopeful and seek inspiration!
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No problems 🙂
My favourite scents would have to be lavender, neroli, sweet orange, and peppermint. I only use 100% pure essential oils, as the synthetic ones give me headaches, and supposedly don’t have as much efficacy as pure oils.
Lavender and neroli are both soothing and relaxing. Lavender is also good for headaches, and neroli in the bath for cramps (my hubby loves it for sporting injuries). I often mix these together. In the bath, in an oil burner in the bedroom for half an hour before I go to bed, and/or a couple of drops on my pillow.
Sweet orange and peppermint are both uplifting and can help to keep you awake. I often use one of these while I’m studying – but never together, I think that would stink!!
I also use sandalwood incense when I’m meditating. I think sandalwood is the ‘traditional’ scent that most people associate with such practices, so it helps to get me into the right frame of mind; when I smell sandalwood, I know it’s time to relax. I’m just as picky about incense as I am essential oils. I don’t like a lot of them. I use a natural one that is made in Tibet.
From a psych perspective, I think a lot of the benefits are due to conditioning. If you use a particular scent in a particular situation (such as what I do with the incense) you learn to associate that scent with performing that task. However, I do think some scents have healing properties in their own right.
xx Bec
Bec,
Thank you so much for sharing. That’s so inspiring!
I haven’t tried sandalwood or neroli. I think now would be a great time to add some pure essential oils to my Christmas wish list!
Hug,
Kat
ever play/have that conversation; if you had to lose a sense which one would you give-up? well, i lost my sense of smell (ansomnic) about 10 years ago due to chronic sinus issues. by the way, people have no sense of smell due to 3 reasons; born that way, head injury, or viral infection. i’m in the last group. back to the original question i posed; most people would be willing to give-up their sense of smell if they had to give-up one of their 5 senses…i currently suffer from severe depression. about 15 months ago i had several stressful life events occur over a short span of time that has put me deep down in the rabbit’s hole. but, i now believe i was suffering from a mild depression even before these events took place. as i look back i’m thinking that the start of my mild depression coincided with my loss of ability to smell. most people take their ability to smell without much thought. so much of person’s life is connected to their ability to smell; taste, sexual arousal, memory plus much much more. it is a key to good mental health. i firmly believe that future research will show a direct connection to depression and the inability to smell.
There is no doubt that smell is the most underrated sense out there. I used to think it was entirely useless before I became a professional fisherman 30 years ago. Today, I can barely smell anything in life and food does not taste the same to me. I encourage everyone to appreciate their noses and be thankful that they can still smell things!
Bob from Karate Edgemead
I have had depression for years. I never really noticed a reduced sense of smell, but my partner can detect smells long before I can. Sometimes he can smell things that I just can’t smell at all.
Thank you for sharing this!
I believe there is a lot of value to others in sharing your personal experiences.
Also, perhaps we can convince and inspire more psychologists to research different aspects and symptoms of depression.
Keep in touch,
Kat
I’ve been severely depressed for a while now, but in denial about it. Yesterday was one of the worst days. I’m actually a little glad I lost my sense of smell, because it gives me something concrete that I can’t write off as “it’s all just in your head/you’re just lazy”. Pizza, cookies and cranberry juice all taste basically the same. I can taste salt basically as well, but I can eat a handful of pepper without tasting it at all. I feel like this could end up being a really good party trick, but I’d like to go back to being able to be happy instead. Thanks for this article.
I have a decreased sense of smell since about June of 2011. I had a cold that lingered for four-five weeks that had my nose running like a faucet and somewhere during that time my sense of smell was lost. I have since regained it minutely, but I don’t know if it’ll ever be the same.
On a separate note,I have been very depressed for a long while also. I nearly lost my son to an accident about a year + 1/2 ago. I don’t know if that contributed to my loss of smell, but he recovered about 90 % except he lost his sense of smell and has a drop foot. Maybe all a coincidence – maybe not.
Hello Kat,
I’ve had 3 bouts of depression in the last 10 years and and still in the third one. The last episode started 8 months ago. I had the flu and lost my sense of smell and tumbled back down into depression.Smell hasn’t returned yet and that is depressing in itself. Previously I had smell loss as well but it returned after about 6 weeks. I do smell some things but it’s distorted and only unpleasant. I experience it as a real disability as it cuts down on so much pleasure.
Thanks for your article.
Best Wishes
Marley
I am also suffering from depression and my sense of smell is gone completely since its become bad. My memory has failed at around the same time. Its always sad when my boyfriend or best friend say: oh, can you smell the rain or wow that food smells amazing and I would love to smell it and experience it, but I can’t. I can’t even remember what my boyfriend smells like. We bought a puppy recently. My little baby girl. But I don’t know what she smells like, her puppy breath or how she smells when we’ve given her a wash. I’m glad to know I am not alone in this and I hope you all regain your sense of smell again. Sense of smell is so underrated and you really don’t realise it until its gone.