Imagine this. You’re on a vacation in a small town in Europe. You’re walking down an unfamiliar street, one you’ve never walked down before, and BOOM! You’re transported back to your favourite childhood memory when your grandmother served you a slice of her freshly-baked chocolate cake.
No this isn’t time travel, it’s the remarkable power of scents!
Scents and aromas are known to be powerful memory triggers, to both happy and sad ones. Here’s how the science of scent works.
The brain areas that are best known for processing emotions, learning, and memory, are also responsible for processing scents. This means that when you smell something, to process the scent, your brain uses the same areas that it would use to process emotions and memories. This feature enhances our ability to recall emotional memories using the power of smells.
This led scientists to believe that certain fragrances could relieve symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease - two conditions related to cognitive and memory deterioration.
Today, all over the world , essential oils are being used as part of dementia therapy. While comprehensive dementia treatments continue, studies suggest that aromatherapy and essential oils may actually treat symptoms of the disease and not just mitigate the symptoms. Aromatherapy has also been proven to soften the symptoms of depression and anxiety. While most essential oils can trigger memories, the essential oils that contain Rosemary, Lavender, Peppermint, Bergamot or Clary Sage are known to have memory boosting properties.
So the next time you light up a scented candle or a diffuser oil, make sure you’re creating some happy memories around it. Store these scented moments in your mind, ready to be revisited on another day!