Whilst something beautiful may capture our momentary interest, and something flavourful may bring our tastebuds pleasure, it is scent that, out of all our senses, has a power of persuasion unlike anything else. The persuasiveness of a scent, be it a good or unpleasant smell, cannot be fended off; it enters our bodies like breath into our lungs whether we consent to it or not. Within no time at all a scent can evoke emotions, memories, a whole body feeling, it can be both a remedy and a poison, and it can have a big impact on our mental wellness.
Smells travel up our nose, then past the amygdala and the hippocampus sections of our brain before arriving in the thalamus, which is the part of our brain responsible for processing sensory signals. The amygdala section of our brain is responsible for the plethora of our emotions, which means that all scents, regardless of whether they are strong, weak, purposeful or passive, pass by the parts of our brains which control emotions and memories before our brain has registered how we feel about them.
This is also why for some people, smells may trigger unhappy emotions or memories, or vice versa; because smells evoke emotions and memories subjective to our personal experiences. Our brains assign meanings to smells after they have found their place in our memories, so the situation in which you smell a scent for the first time will often affect how you will remember that moment and how you will feel about that scent, sometimes forever.
For many people, smelling a particular scent may bring back a memory thought to be long forgotten. For others, they may remember a scent more vividly than the actual memory, or even the details of the memory itself. You may remember the moments you spent with your grandma baking fresh cookies, but often the smell of those fresh cookies will ‘put’ you back in that kitchen more so than seeing a baking tray or oven mitt will.
There are some scents which have long been used to evoke certain emotions, citrus smells for example, are often invigorating, the smell of freshly baked pastries often makes people feel hungry, and for most, the smell of lavender is calming and makes them feel sleepy. Scents make a hugely underrated difference to our emotions and how we feel in a certain moment, this includes not just the actual scent, but also the strength of a scent. A room that is stuffy, or has an overpowering smell, quite often makes people feel enclosed, or uncomfortable, whilst a room which has adequate airflow of fresh air often makes people feel energised.
You’ll find lavender, for example, in most lotions, potions, sprays and oils which are described as being beneficial to creating a calm environment. Lavender has in fact been proven to aid relaxation and sleep, so there is science behind it, however, some people are calmed by the smell of lemongrass, or by a smokey fire, or even after the year we’ve all endured, some find the smell of hand sanitiser their scent of choice.
The connection between scent and mental wellness, or unwellness, begins at the very beginning of when and how that connection to that scent is formed. There is a limitless number of products which use scent which have pre-assigned meanings to them, as well as pre-assigned emotions which they are capable of provoking. In your journey to mental wellness, it is important to find a scent that brings you the emotion that you are searching for. You might find that lavender is the scent that really hits the nail on the head for you, or you might find that the scent that relaxes you the most is something else, one that may evoke the opposite emotion in someone else. In a similar way, because scents evoke memories and not just emotions, it is possible to use scent to your advantage when trying to remember certain things, the same applies for when you may want someone else to remember a certain thing.
The advice that I would give to someone wanting to explore scent and feelings is to take the time to find a scent that brings you what you are looking for, and not force yourself to find meaning or emotion in a scent that you feel, or have been told, that you are supposed to feel that from. Find smells that evoke different emotions and try (if possible) not to blend these unless the blended scent brings you what you are looking for. The latter is obviously not a strict rule, but in the initial stages of building a routine it can be helpful to have almost-like a signature scent for that particular experience or situation. A smell that invigorates you, for example, when you are preparing to- or actually working or studying, and then a different smell for when you are trying to de-stress or relax yourself.
You cannot always change the memory a particular scent may bring you, but you can adapt new scents to new environments and work these into the lifestyle you want for yourself and your family.
