The Mind-altering Influence of Scent on Mood

The sense of smell and our memories of scents be they conscious or unconscious is our most primitive sense. For good reason too, we have evolved to literally smell danger. The olfactory threat perception that is our ability to smell trouble is part of the olfactory cortex stores where we store sensory threat codes related to smells as acquired associative representations formed via life experiences thereby enabling coding of these threat cues directly related to certain smells.  We can smell when a fire is starting, the proximity of other humans and animals and this historically would have been lifesaving however in today’s world the smell of a meal could ignite certain unwarranted feelings of unease or harm without us necessarily being fully aware of the influence present. Where the research gets exciting is reversely when we use smell to bring about positive physiological changes that influence neural pathways and modulatory systems to be conditioned to uplifting feelings.

So how can it be possible for something as simple as smell to be able to affect our emotions, therefore our mood and behaviour? Neuroscience research over the past few decades has reached a strong consensus that the part of the brain responsible is the amygdala which plays a key role in emotion processing and is highly associated with the nature of olfactory cortical processing. There is hope then for learning induced brain plasticity that is the ability of the brain to change as brain cells last for life and are notoriously difficult to change, in the amygdala and the olfactory cortex. In addition, as aversive learning becomes consolidated in the amygdala, the associative olfactory cortex may undergo long term changes resulting in modified neural response patterns that underpin threats potentially accounting for an alternative mechanism that is lying underneath the pathophysiology of anxiety and depression. Aversive learning is usually achieved using an unpleasant stimulus to help change a behaviour but with pure essential oils a pleasant stimulus can be used to help refocus on a positive behaviour making the experience more pleasurable.

The most profound and effective way to use scent to influence mood disorders is with the use of Therapeutic Grade essential oils. Essential oils represent the soul essence of a plant and carry its life force energy matrix. The aroma of the oil reaches and influences the deepest most primitive human instincts and emotions. Your logical brain is not involved in your process of smell, you feel aromatic scents. Your brain doesn’t filter or interpret scent and because of the unique ability of scent to reach beneath the surface of your conditioned mind it can be used to re-train your brain and establish new meta-programs.

You start by focusing on a positive feeling and then taking one drop of the oil in your palms, rubbing the palms together and taking 5 deep inhalations. Meditation can be an ideal time to do this, but it needs to initially be repeated more than once during a day. It takes repeated use of your oil daily for 1-3 days and it can take a combination of different oils that are largely still going to be chosen on personal preference. Once this practice has been achieved for the desired time you can then simply place the oil in a diffuser for occasional use. Grounding, calming choices for when anxious feelings arise include Frankincense and Neroli and uplifting choices for low mood include Orange and Peppermint.

Another clear representation of how smell can have profound benefits on the long-term brain changes is with infants who are known for having poor memory and an infantile is not able to remember significant events until much later in life. At this stage of life, we are all already excellent learners and are easily influenced by experience making this is the perfect time to create olfactory classical conditioning that is beneficial to long term mindset. It can be as simple as having an essential oil diffuser in play areas or having diluted essential oils applied during baby massage. Oils that are safe for babies include Lavender, Chamomile and Mandarin.

Odors readily become associated to emotions and can thereby influence behaviour even with young children.

Lavender can be placed near a baby’s nose when upset and chamomile is soothing for digestive troubles.

So, you don’t need to be an aromatherapist to gain a new tool in your toolbox to help promote lasting effects on mood right from childhood to helping with the daily demands of adulthood. Consistency is key here as it will take more than one attempt at creating a new pathway but considering how long it takes to create new habits, using smell to create neuropathways that help us to concentrate and function, it is a relatively easy and likely worthwhile process. Get sniffing.

References

Herz, R. S., Schankler, C., & Beland, S. (2004). Olfaction, emotion and associative learning: Effects on motivated behavior. Motivation and Emotion. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-004-2389-x

Li, W. (2014). Learning to smell danger: Acquired associative representation of threat in the olfactory cortex. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00098

Wilson, D. A., & Sullivan, R. M. (1994). Neurobiology of associative learning in the neonate: Early olfactory learning. Behavioral and Neural Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-1047(05)80039-1