Aromatherapy:The Smell Factor

To better understand aromatherapy benefits, it helps to know how your body processes smells.


The sense of smell is pretty powerful. In fact, the body can distinguish around 10,000 different scents! Amazing, isn’t it?



As scents are inhaled, the smell travels across the olfactory nerves located inside the nose and then up into the part of the brain that controls our moods, our memories and our ability to learn. This area is called the Limbic System and when stimulated it releases endorphins, neurotransmitters and other 'feel-good' chemicals.
Wow! That’s pretty scientific stuff… not to worry, in a nutshell, what all of that means is that smells have a subtle way of effecting your mind and emotions.

Just think of the way you feel when you sniff the scent from a fresh bouquet of flowers versus your reaction when you smell something not so fresh like garbage or burnt toast. A big difference right