Of all the senses we love to indulge in, smell is often overlooked – but the right fragrances could be just what your brain needs to stay active as you age.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, have discovered compelling evidence that enriching the air with fragrance improves cognitive performance by enhancing critical connectivity between neural regions involved in memory and decision-making.
Their trial, which included 43 men and women between the ages of 60 and 85, suggests that cognitive decline and conditions such as dementia can be slowed simply by diffusing different scents into the bedroom before bed each night.
Keeping our gray matter active as we age is vital to cognitive health. This is not limited to solving the daily crossword, but rather enriching our environment with a variety of images and sounds that stimulate the brain.
In other animals, enriching the environment with odors has been shown to stimulate neuroplasticity. Especially in testing With animals that show symptoms of neurological disorders similar to humans.
It is not an exaggeration to think that humans can also benefit from a rich “olfactory landscape.” Physiologically we have The ability to detect odors deteriorates before cognitive decline begins.
This meaning is also lost associated with decline of brain cells, suggesting a strong relationship between smell and neural function.
“The sense of smell has the special privilege of being directly linked to the memory circuits of the brain.” He said Neurobiologist Michael Yassa when revealing the results in August.
“All the other senses are processed first by the thalamus. Everyone has experienced how effective scents are in evoking memories, even from distant times. But, unlike the visual changes that we treat with glasses, and the hearing loss that we use with hearing aids, there has been no intervention for sensory loss.” smelling”.
To determine whether cognitive decline could be mitigated through this type of sensory stimulation, Yassa and colleagues presented 20 study participants with a variety of natural oils with scents of rose, orange, eucalyptus, lemon, mint, rosemary, and lavender.
The rest of the group received a “simulation” containing traces of an odor. All participants had to use one of the oils with a diffuser to scent their homes for two hours each night over a period of six months, alternating between scents.
A series of neuropsychological tests were then administered to compare the volunteers' memory, verbal learning, planning, and attention shifting abilities before and after the six-month trial period.
Surprisingly, there was a clear 226% difference between the responses of those exposed to a variety of fragrances and those in the control group. The brain scan also revealed a significant change in… anatomy Which connects brain areas important for memory and thinking in the group tested.
Since all the volunteers had similar mental health, the researchers now intend to see if the results are maintained in people who have already been diagnosed with some degree of cognitive loss.
Regardless of age or mental state, giving your nose something to do when the lights go out and silence reigns is actually an unpleasant way to exercise your brain at night.
This research was published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.
The article was originally published by Mike McRae on Science Alert.
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