I love your nose-brain!

It almost sounds rude, doesn’t it? But it’s true, we have a part of our brain called the Nose-Brain!

Essentially, it seems, we’re all nosey!

OK, a couple of caveats. Firstly, I’m not a neuroscientist. Secondly, I’m not an aromatherapist.

Caveats aside, I can read, and I’m massively curious when it comes to ANYTHING that might make life better for all of us.

So, here’s what’s happened. My eldest son, Samuel, now works for ScentAir. This company specialises in influencing behaviour through scent. I’m really interested in Sensory Marketing or Neuro-Marketing as we might call it (if we want to sell books and courses!)

One of the earliest parts of the brain to develop, the Rhinencephalon (literally ‘Nose-Brain’) is associated both with the conscious awareness of scent, and more unconsciously with the emotional associations we make with those scents.

If you smell rotten eggs, your brain emotionally feels repulsed… so that you might live longer!
If you smell a fragrantly splendid rose, your heart may feel uplifted, making associations with health and beauty and spring and hope!

Life stinks… so let’s come up smelling of roses!

These 5 Scents have been recommended to me:


Lavender

Cedarwood

Frankincense

Chamomile

Grapefruit

Sounds like a bunch of rabbits in a Beatrix Potter story…

You’ll make your own mind up about what is good for you, but know that what you like may upset your pets or your partner (who could be the same!)

Here’s what these scents are supposed to be associated with.

Lavender = calm, easing anxiety. Lavender at bedtime is reckoned to help some of us sleep better and feel more energised the day after.

Cedarwood = stress relieving. It may even boost performance and productivity.

Frankincense = peace and comfort.

Chamomile = anti-inflammatory - and thus a rebalancing. May positively affect digestion.

Grapefruit = an energiser!

I conclude with an exciting invitation to explore scent.

We know for certain that scent influences emotion and thus behaviour.

We have Keyneston Mill near us, the home of Parterre Fragrances, and I have to say visiting there is exciting in many sensory ways.

Seems to me to ‘make sense’ to investigate how scent may help our emotional mastery, and I have a sense that many Moodscopers can comment from their own experience on this vital topic!

Lex

A Moodscope member.