When, thank heavens, you return to feeling normal again after being depressed, everything around you will seem to have greater clarity. Colours will be more vivid. Music will be more melodic. And according to a report in New Scientist, smells will be stronger. (This could be good or bad depending on whether we're talking about the perfume of a rose or the pong of someone's whiffy old trainers, of course.)
More specifically the article details research undertaken at the University of Dresden, showing that people's sense of smell diminished when they were depressed. Amazingly this seems to happen because the part of the brain responsible for registering smells - the olfactory bulb - actually gets smaller, which was observed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It's fascinating to see the evidence building up which supports what I think we instinctively know. When you're depressed, you feel cut off from everything.
Maybe being tired has a similar effect as being in a depressed state I often can't taste my food when I'm tired,aswell as when I'm depressed ! The sense of smell is
ReplyDeletelinked with that of taste.
This is so true, I love cooking and eating both of which use our sense of smell to appreciate flavour, I have noticed when I am depressed or low my sense of taste is affected and I lose interest in food although shopping for food and cooking is for me an imporetant strategy to overcome low mood but is also a symptom of low mood.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this could work the other way. That using pleasant smells from your normal times might give you a boost. I've thought aromatherapy therapy was kind of, well, slightly bogus, but maybe there is something here. I've read about studies of Jasmine (from Germany who respect herbs on a national level by funding studies) that show it is very relaxing, similar to valium. So perhaps: strange are the pathways of our brains, and many roads may lead to balance.
ReplyDeleteThis is such good news. Two years' ago I completely lost all sense of smell. I checked the internet, asked the doctor but could get no explanation. I was told 'it can happen'. This has been the case until about six months ago, when I started to suffer less with depression and anxiety and now my sense of smell is returning. It's not completely right, but it's better.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting - I have a very acute sense of smell but it hasn' t really been operating for the last few months and now I know why although I hadn't noticed until reading today's post.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny, I have noticed that I havent been able to smell for weeks now. I thought it might just be a cold, and I thought I was geting over the break up of my marriage, it being nearly a year ago. But perhaps not. Every time I think I am geting better, the smallest event knocks me sideways, and I cant breathe. Sometimes I cant see, my mouth goes dry, and I start to shake. Even my girls just become a noise of chatter and I cant clearly see them either. Now my sense of smell has gone too. I keep telling myself that things will get better, and some days it does get better, until I am knocked off my feet again by nothing in particular. Today I am struggling to breathe, and of course, I still cant smell.
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