Smell Your Way to Happiness

Hi Guys, CJ here. The Big Guy is enjoying a day off today so we have the cyber Harperhome all to ourselves. Today’s instalment is a little different so I will be especially interested to hear your responses. Enjoy the rest of your week.

What’s That Smell?

Recently, a friend of mine found himself in a very awkward position. He had received complaints from quite a few members of his team (corporate team, not football team – supposedly the business world is a lot more fun when you use sporting terminology), that a certain new addition to his team was, well, smelly. Like really smelly. Yep, the new kid on the corporate block had a body odour that could fill a windowless meeting room within seconds and linger longer than a distant relative after Christmas lunch. He had wondered why teleconferencing had recently become so popular in the office.

The team was on the brink of mutiny so his only choice was to either issue all the victims with Hazmat suits or have a little chat with Stinky McStinker. Geez. I would rather tell an employee that he had been made redundant.

Apparently, Mr Stinky took the feedback quite well. Gotta admire him for that. If I had to receive such news, I’d be on the first flight to Norway. Evidently, the poor bloke had recently moved to Australia from a cooler climate and had failed to adjust his personal hygiene routine accordingly. He believed that a short burst of eau de toilette in the morning would suffice in a Sydney summer. Pfft.

Maybe odour-management should become part of the induction process at Sydney airport. Each newcomer could be greeted by a friendly volunteer who says:

“Here’s your poisonous snake and spider identification chart. Did you know that all ten of the planet’s deadliest snakes live in Australia? Yes, we are very proud.”

“And here’s your booklet of Australian slang. Be aware that the words ‘thong’, ‘fanny’, ‘date’ and ‘root’ have very different meanings here in the Land Down Under.”

“And, finally, here’s your complimentary can of anti-perspirant deodorant which will hopefully save you from smelling like a dead marsupial and wondering why you’re always lucky enough to have a seat all to yourself on Sydney’s overcrowded public transport system. And no, it’s not meant to last the entire year.

The Power of Smell

The incident reminded me that smell is something that we rarely pay much attention to unless it becomes annoying. It’s a little like Paris Hilton. However, unlike dear Paris, smell is actually somewhat under-rated. Once we begin to understand the potential impact that different smells can have on, not only our emotional and psychological states, but also our entire physiology (blood pressure, nervous system, hormone production, respiration), we realise that the strategic use of different smells (scents, fragrances – choose your word) can be a valuable part of our self-management, self-discovery and even, self-healing journey.

It’s known that certain scents have the ability to produce a calming effect on the nervous system. It’s also known that there’s an inverse correlation between emotional and psychological stress and physical health. So if we know that certain scents can help induce a state of relaxation and even happiness, why not use them therapeutically? Of course there is no universal response to particular scents so it’s up to us to (individually) discover what works for us. For someone we both know, the smell of cheesecake cake might increase heart rate, respiration and endorphin (happy hormones) production.

Most of us can distinguish up to 10,000 different smells. That’s a lot. Our ability to recall smells (olfactory memory) is also much stronger than our ability to recall visual or aural cues like photographs or songs. Evidently, smell is processed by the same part of the brain that handles memories and emotions. Which explains why smells can have such strong emotional associations for us. For example, I love the smell of aviation fuel because it reminds me of holidays and meeting loved ones. As soon as I arrive at the airport, I take a deep breath and immediately feel excited. Am not weird.

I am blessed, or perhaps cursed, with a very sensitive sense of smell. It probably doesn’t help that I have a nose that people take cover under when it rains. I can’t be positive, but I’m pretty sure that I went out with a guy in high school just because he wore the same fragrance as a guy I once liked.

Ok, a little weird.

Triggering Our Smell Memory-bank

So we now know that if we can identify our personal smell-associations and individual responses (and we can), then we can use that knowledge and awareness to manipulate our mood. In the same way that we might choose a particular piece of music (or food) to elicit an emotional response, we can intentionally expose ourselves to those smells that will evoke a certain memory and, therefore, a specific psychological, emotional and even, physiological response.

Of course, we all have individual memories and experiences so we will all have different smell-associations and responses. Maybe the smell of a certain brand of laundry powder reminds us of beach holidays at our cousins’ house. Or the smell of play-dough brings back lovely childhood memories. Perhaps a certain brand of fragrance makes us feel closer to someone we miss terribly.

One of my favourite smells is freight trains. The soothing, fragrant blend of diesel fuel, brake dust and coal evokes memories of lying in bed at my Dutch Nana’s house in the school holidays. All through the night, the trains laden with coal from the Lithgow mines would snake their way down the mountains to the Sydney ports with a comforting ca-chunka-chunk, ca-chunka-chunk, ca-chunka-chunk …  Even now the smell can make me feel safe, warm and loved – just like Nana always did. If they ever release a fragrance called ‘Eau de Freight-train’, I’ll buy a bucketful.

Apparently, the favourite smell of he at him-dot-com is Dencorub or anything Dencorubby (eucalyptus or menthol). For him, it probably triggers memories of his days of sporting greatness. Or, perhaps, perceived sporting greatness? It probably evokes the sights and sounds of gyms and locker-rooms. Of firm and glistening muscles sore from victories on the sporting field. Of biceps and pecs and … Sorry, got myself a little distracted. Told you associations were powerful.

We would probably all be able to list at least six distinct smells that can trigger memories and change our mood. And we don’t have to sit around hoping that these smells will just randomly cross our path; we can seek them out when we want to feel a certain way. It’s very cool.

Just don’t laugh if you catch me sniffing a leather motorcycle jacket and a bottle of vanilla extract, okay? It would take way too long to explain that one.

Things That Make You Go Mmmm

There are also those smells for which we don’t have an obvious associated memory but they affect our emotional state nonetheless. We love them. We don’t really know why but they just do it for us. And, again, it’s an individual thing. I love the smell of wood fires in winter, whiteboard markers, clean sheets, jasmine, rain, new shoes, licorice and pipe smoke. You probably love entirely different smells. Only you can know what you really like.

The good news is that we don’t all need to become smell-ologists to work out which smells have the desired effect on us. Our best resource is sitting right there in the middle of our face and we can quickly determine how our favourite smells make us feel – calm, refreshed, soothed, energised, comforted, or maybe even something else ‘Well, do you, Baby?’ (said in a very bad Austin Powers voice)

Food for Thought

My friend, Tania, bakes an incredible banana cake. Baking is her thing. I can smell it before I’ve even reached her front door and it always stimulates a ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ response in me – it’s such good manners to arrive at someone’s house salivating like a Saint Bernard, isn’t it? You knew I was a classy chick, didn’t you?

A little while ago, however, I didn’t actually eat the cake. Yes, I smelled it. Yes, I salivated. But I wasn’t hungry so I didn’t eat it. The freaky thing is that I felt like I had eaten it. The smell was enough to give me the same feeling of relaxation, companionship and comfort that I always gain from a visit to Tania’s house; I was emotionally satisfied just by being with my friends and smelling the cake. Could it possibly be that when we overeat, we are seeking the feelings we attach to the food rather than the food itself? Could we perhaps trigger those pleasant feelings through smell alone? It’s just a thought …

So …

What’s your favourite smell? Why is it your favourite smell? What effect does it have on you?

Given that we all have a potentially mood-changing tool at our disposal, how do we use it to our advantage? Is there a practical (and perhaps subtle) way to strategically expose ourselves to the smells we desire in order to influence our mood?

As always, looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

CJ xox

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