Making sense of scents

How Do We Smell?

Unlike sight, which often dominates and overrides our sense of smell in everyday situations, smell doesn’t head straight to the thalamus—the brain structure most commonly associated with consciousness. Instead, smell detection first arrives at the olfactory bulb, which then passes information to the hippocampus portion of the limbic system. This area of the brain plays a major role in controlling our mood, emotion, and memory, which is why smells often conjure up vivid and emotional memories.

The Underrated Power of Smell

Compared to our other senses, our sense of smell is often underappreciated. This might be because much of olfaction operates beneath our consciousness, happening all the time without us being acutely aware.

The Science Behind Smell

Studies have found that humans can distinguish at least 1 trillion odor molecules. However, the human language simply doesn’t have words for these 1 trillion scents, meaning much of this detection happens under the radar of our awareness. Additionally, humans have 350 odor receptor genes, compared to just 15 serotonin receptors. This highlights that while our sense of smell is often underappreciated or undetected, it is an extremely important part of being human.

Understanding Olfactory Fatigue and How to Keep Your Home Smelling Fresh

If you can’t smell your perfume, diffuser, or other home scenting products anymore, there’s a real scientific explanation for it—olfactory fatigue. As our brains are exposed to a scent for an extended period, they tend to ignore the familiar smell to avoid sensory overload.

We’ve all experienced this phenomenon. It’s that moment when you can’t detect your favorite perfume anymore and think, “I should change it…” or “They must have altered the formula…” But rest assured, nothing is wrong with your perfume; it’s still the same delightful fragrance you’ve always loved. Your nose has simply “gone blind” to it.

The same thing happens with home fragrances. After a few weeks, you might find you can’t smell your house scent anymore. Your diffuser is still working, and there’s still fragrance in the pod. What’s happened is sensory adaptation due to olfactory fatigue.

To maintain a wonderfully fragrant home and continue enjoying your favorite perfume or cologne and diffuser fragrances, try alternating fragrances. One of the best ways to keep a pleasant scent in your home that you can continuously smell is to change your fragrances every month.

Personal sensitivity 

People can react to smells with different levels of sensitivity due to personal factors such as genetics and state of health. Humidity can influence people’s sense of smell, with some being more affected than others. 

Scent and Memory

When we encounter a scent stored in our memory, our brain correlates it with specific recollections, evoking the associated emotions. For example, the scent of freshly cut grass might make you feel nostalgic and uplifted, as it brings back memories of childhood summers spent playing outdoors. These connections can be clear in our consciousness, but they also occur subtly, without our awareness.

Emotions and Scent

Research has found that certain emotions can emit scents in the form of chemo signals. When a person experiences emotions such as fear or stress, they release specific odor chemicals related to those feelings. Others can subconsciously detect these odors, influencing their mood and creating a contagious emotional response via scent.

Element Factors
Wind, Humidity, temperature, air pressure, weather all effect our sense of smell.