Here’s a new way to protect your brain as you age. Turn your bedroom into a fragrant sanctuary! That’s according to researchers at the UCI Center for the Neurobiology Lead researcher Michael Leon says that by age 60, our sense of smell begins to decline, along with our memory. So he and his team decided to see if fragrances might make a difference.
In the study, half of the participants were asked to sleep in a scent-free bedroom. The rest were given an essential oil diffuser to use in their bedroom for two hours every night.
And the participants rotated through the different scents, getting a fresh, stimulating whiff before bed each night. The scents included rose, lemon, orange, lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, and rosemary.
After 6 months, study participants with scented bedrooms scored 226% better on memory tests, compared to those in scent-free rooms! And their brain scans showed improvement in the memory-related pathways that typically decline with age.
So, why do aromas make such an impact on our brain? Because, unlike our other senses, the signals from our nose go straight to the brain areas linked to memory and emotion. That’s why a whiff of your grandpa’s cologne, or warm cookies like mom used to make can trigger vivid memories. If you’d like to try using a diffuser for two hours at bedtime, try these aromas: rose, lemon, orange, lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, and rosemary.
