Smelling well for a happy brain

Have you ever noticed how a smell can bring you right back into a memory or emotional state? Do you smell chocolate chips cookies and get transported into grandma’s cozy kitchen? Do you wonder why this happens? I wonder about pretty much everything, so let’s dive into this today.

Your olfactory nerve is your first cranial nerve and it controls your sense of smell. Nerves are usually like little wires that transmit information between your brain and your body. The olfactory nerve is a bit different. It looks kind of spider webby. It’s located between the very top of your nose and your brain and it connects up with the parts of your brain that relate to thinking, emotional control, and memory.

This is why smelling something can take you back in time or make you feel a certain way or even boost your mental energy. It’s a direct connection to your brain. This also means you should be careful about what you breathe in! I’m one of those super sensitive people and any synthetic or chemical scent will make me feel a bit dizzy or headachy or nauseous. This happens because the chemicals are going right to my brain!

I love using essential oils to boost my mental, emotional, and physical well-being, but it took me a long time to find some that didn’t have synthetic scents. It’s not difficult to make something like lavender oil in a lab. It can even be an exact chemical match to pure real lavender oil, but it will not have the same effects. I learned to dislike lavender because it is in so many products, but it’s almost always synthetic and makes me feel terrible.

If you or someone you know can’t handle scented things or doesn’t like anything scented it’s likely not that the can’t handle scents, but that they notice the effects of synthetic scents on their brain. Just as scents can have good effects…imagine peeling an orange—the essential oil of the orange is in the peel and when it sprays out as you peel it, it is hard not to smile. Orange is so uplifting— scents can have negative effects…the smell of bleach puts me into a rage, synthetic scents often cause brain fog or headache. These effects are because the olfactory nerve is part of the brain and scents affect it directly!

If you want recommendations for natural and medicinal scents for well-being, body care and cleaning, please reach out!