Can fragrance affect your mood?

Can fragrance affect your mood?

Yes, absolutely.

Smells are all around us, from fancy candles, to car diffusers, scented sticks in our bathrooms… the list goes on. We spray scents all over our bodies, light candles to set a certain mood, and to mask natural odours in the home. But they could be making us sick.

This is why I’ve decided to ditch my perfumes. It was hard to part with them, because I do have some lovely ones! And expensive too. But they had to go.

Here’s why…

Perfumes contain neurotoxins, which have a causal link to central nervous system disorders, headaches, confusion, dizziness, short-term memory loss, anxiety, depression, disorientation, and mood swings.

Of the five senses, only our sense of smell is linked directly to the limbic lobe of the brain, our emotional control centre. Fear, anxiety, depression, anger, and joy all emanate from this region of the brain.*

We spray perfume on our necks (directly sitting on our thyroid) and slowly all day long this is soaking in to our skin and creeping up our noses.

The older I get the more aware I am of the changes in my hormones. I was suffering quite a few hot flushes and asked the doctor to check my hormone levels, but she said all is ok in that department. So, I decided to seek out some other reasons for this. After a bit of reading and chatting to some friends I decided to eliminate my perfumes and switch to essential oils. Essential oils don’t disrupt the body’s natural balance AND you can use them to create certain feelings. You can force your senses to react however you need them to.

Some of the positive mood change benefits from using essential oils –

• Increased alertness
• Elevation
• Uplifting mood
• Relaxation and Calmness
• Motivation

Perfumes with aromatherapy qualities (and no chemicals) can boost your moods and pull you out of a funk. They can invigorate you mid-afternoon, or they can calm you down if your morning has been stressful! That’s why I carry a few different potions with me these days.

Aromatherapy is the art and science of smell whereby a scent stimulates the smell receptors in the nose. These receptors then send messages to the emotional seat of the brain which rules feelings, memory and creativity. Smell has a hold over cognition and emotion. The simple inhalation of an aroma can cause many changes in the body and more specifically in mood.*

Matching your mood with your fragrance

Calming and Relaxing Scents: Lavender, Frankincense, Chamomile, Jasmine, Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Bergamot.

Refreshing, Motivating and Uplifting Scents: Orange, Peppermint, Lemon, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Grapefruit, Rose, Cinnamon, Citrus.

There are so many wonderful scents and fragrances to choose from that can both inspire and alter mood. My go-to is always Frankincense. It smells wonderful and has an all-rounder effect.

Get yourself on to the essential oils bandwagon and see how your moods will change. You have nothing to lose!

GET TO KNOW THE TOP 10 ESSENTIAL OILS HERE.

♥ KC.

*source