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Acetone and a felt-tip pen: why do we like strange smells?
Someone adores the smell of diesel fuel and gasoline, someone – fresh paint. Together with a neurologist, we deal with our incomprehensible love for strange scents.
A person’s sense of humor is a subjective measure, someone likes it tough and on the verge, someone prefers a refined one, read between the lines. Tastes, habits, upbringing, environment: we are all different! The same can be said for a preference for certain scents.
Our nerve endings know how to choose and fall for certain scents. So, they quickly inform us that in the oven is my mother’s favorite casserole, in the bathroom my husband uses shower gel with notes of pine. Sometimes sensory cells, on the contrary, try not to notice some odors (it has been proven that a person does not feel his own bad breath or how his socks smell).
— Why does this “strange chemistry” occur? The reason is in the brain and its mechanism of perception of smells.
We imagine that in front of you is a gorgeous rose bush. We stop, take a bud and bow our heads to catch the scent of a flower. And this is where the “strange chemistry” or magic, as I like to call it, begins.
So …
We breathe in, and … the odor molecule, which is scientifically called an odorant, gets into our nose.
The odorant instantly, sitting on the mucous membrane, dissolves and “ignites” the olfactory receptors.
The receptor, again, if it is a familiar smell, recognizes it and sends a signal through the nervous system by impulse (just a second).
And in nervous system the information received is considered in 3 ways
Long – the association is compared to pleasant / unpleasant images from memory.
Medium – finds the source of the odor.
Short – a person quickly recoils from sharp and incomprehensible smells as from future problems.
The circuit is perfect and works flawlessly: we smelled a smell, the brain begins to decipher and analyze it, compare, so to speak, with its internal “Wikipedia”: new or familiar, pronounced or slightly noticeable, pleasant or unpleasant.
It turns out that a person himself (thanks to his nervous system) learns to recognize aromas during his life. The concept of “pleasant” or “unpleasant smell” does not exist, this perception is formed over time, or rather, under the influence of external factors: the norms and cultural traditions prevailing in society.
Here are some prime examples. In Norway, they use rotting and smelly herring – surstremming, and in Tae – the foul-smelling durian. For a Norwegian and Thai it is tasty and pleasant, but for others it is a rare stench. These cases clearly show the close connection between emotions and the chemical reaction of the body.
Human perception of odors is based on associations
Even the harshest and weirdest smell can evoke warm emotions and seem pleasant, because once you felt it in a moment of happiness, and your brain has firmly connected these two components together. The smells we smelled in childhood (associated with something pleasant) will remain pleasant for us even as we grow up. Either the smells are associated with a sense of security or danger.
I can say to myself: I love the smell of bleach, for me it is associated with cleanliness and disinfection, I feel comfortable in a room treated with bleach, or, on the contrary, I feel uncomfortable with the smell of dental materials (I feel anxious in my shower).
Or another example. As a child, you and your dad went to the gas station for gas on weekends, it was your personal time, it is obvious that you will love the smell of gasoline all your life. But the one who survived the fire, when a gasoline can exploded in the garage, will hate this smell and in every possible way avoid meeting with it.
All of the above is a close intertwining of neurology and psychology. And there are many techniques in psychotherapy that use the aromatherapy method.
But there are also unusual olfactory disturbances.
Phantosmia – olfactory hallucinations.
Cacosmia is an obsessive sensation of unpleasant odors.
Parosmia is a violation of the interpretation of odors.
Anosmia is the absence of odors (one of the striking symptoms of COVID-19).
These problems are associated with disruption of the functioning of organs and systems at different levels. These are injuries of the olfactory zone, inflammation in the nasal cavity and sinuses, traumatic brain injury, drug intoxication, allergic reaction, genetic mutation and hereditary diseases, deficiency of vitamins A and B12, anemia, intoxication with salts of heavy metals (cadmium, lead, mercury), inhalation of vapors of irritating substances (formaldehyde), viral damage (as in COVID-19).
If you have loved sniffing paint, gasoline, acetone all your life, this is your “hello” from a happy childhood. Live in peace.
If you have not previously noticed certain addictions to unusual smells and have suddenly appeared, this is a reason to consult a doctor and find out the reason.
Interview
Do you like strange smells?
Yes.
No.
Differently.
მე ძალიან მომწონს ბენზინის სუნი,რომ არ დავყნოსო არ შემიძლია..დალევაც მინდება ხოლმე😟