Forget the provocative scent of musk. The sexiest scent is actually the aroma of pumpkin pie mixed with lavender.
That rather unappetizing combination is the No. 1 odor promoting physical arousal in men, according to scientific studies. Coming in second? The odd combo of doughnuts and black licorice, says an expert on the psychological power of scent.
And that unusual finding isn’t the only thing scientists are learning about scent. Studies are just beginning to explain how odors calm us down, perk us up, help us sleep, influence weight loss and gain, relieve pain, ease breathing and affect many other health factors, says Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Center in Chicago.
Hirsch is leading efforts to bring aromatherapy, a powerful but little-understood alternative healing method, into the medical mainstream. He says he is involved in 85 ongoing studies of how smells influence mood and behavior.
“We have tested hundreds of different odors, and the most consistent thing we have found is, if you like it, and it brings a smile to your face, it’s good for you,” says Hirsch, who studied impotence in 31 men, ages 18 to 64, and found that the scents of pumpkin pie and doughnuts increased arousal the most. “If you are in a happy mode, you tend to do everything better.”
A board-certified psychiatrist and neurologist, Hirsch is associated with Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago.
He says aromatherapy, rooted in ancient Egypt, doesn’t really exist in medicine today. But he predicts that by 2010 it will be an integral part of the general physician’s arsenal for influencing behavior and mood.
“I say it doesn’t exist in and of itself because what we are seeing at work is a combination of odors, massage, talk therapy and the power of suggestion. We really don’t know what causes which effect,” says Hirsch.
What scientists do know is that smell is intricately tied to emotions and can affect health and well-being in several ways:
– Conditioned response (certain smells make the mouth water).
– Nostalgia (certain smells evoke memories of childhood).
– Acting directly on the brain itself, like a drug.
“Brain-wave frequency studies suggest that the scent of lavender increases alpha waves at the back of the brain, associated with a more relaxed state, and jasmine increases beta waves in the front of the head, associated with a more alert state,” Hirsch says.
His latest study on migraines, involving 50 patients, looks at the therapeutic value of green-apple odor in relieving migraines.
Those who have a normal sense of smell and who like the smell of green apples make the biggest improvements, Hirsch notes. Next he is looking at how the smell of bananas influences the severity and duration of migraines.
Aromatherapy should be used as an adjunct to the medical management of severe headaches, he says.
Although alternative medicine advocates have long praised aromatherapy, the method is only beginning to win approval from the medical establishment.
“I have seen Lancet studies that show lavender can reduce insomnia, and mint can enhance blood flow,” says Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, clinical professor of medicine at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.
“I’ve seen MRI claustrophobia helped by vanilla aroma. Patients are less anxious with the vanilla,” says Rosenfeld, noting that the tube in which patients are confined for full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans often causes claustrophobia.
“In Japan they are wafting certain scents into subways to reduce crime. How it works, no one knows, but why not use it?” asks Rosenfeld. “Any risks would be minimal.”
The quickest way to cause changes in mood or behavior is with smell, Hirsch points out.
“With the other senses, we identify what we are experiencing and then decide if we like it or not. We like a particular smell — or dislike it — immediately, before we even identify it,” Hirsch says.
Anatomically, human beings process smells on the right side of the brain, the part involved with emotions. The olfactory bulb of the brain where the sense of smell is centered is part of the lymbic system that controls emotion and motivation and triggers memory and sexual response, the doctor explains.
He also has studied the effect of bad odors and found that bad odors increase aggressiveness and hamper learning.
“Bad smells, including air pollution, make people more aggressive,” he says. “We are doing a study on that now for the Illinois attorney general’s office. We have already found more behavior problems among schoolkids on days air quality is bad.
“We also have an interesting study of odors and learning ability using connect-the-dots time tests and mazes and surgical masks saturated with odors. The pleasant mixed floral odor doubled the speed of learning in adults. We repeated with high school seniors in Portland, Ore., and a group of 1st through 3rd graders here in Illinois, and got the same results,” notes Hirsch, who has been researching odors for 15 years.
He is also the author of a book on odors and weight loss, “Dr. Hirsch’s Guide to Scentsational Weight Loss.”
The book is based on three different studies. The largest study followed 3,190 people over a six-month period. In that time, they averaged 30-pound weight losses using banana, green apple and peppermint inhalers.
“The odor that worked best was whichever one they liked best,” Hirsch says. “The first sniff makes you want to eat, but smelling the odor three minutes or more takes away the desire for it,” Hirsch notes.
“That’s not surprising. People who smell food all day long, especially strong food smells like spaghetti, don’t want to eat that food at the end of the day. Eventually certain smells become repulsive, and aversion therapy takes over.”
