Tag Archives: sense of smell

FDA Warns Against Certain Zicam Products

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to the makers of Zicam concerning two products: Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs. (A third, discontinued product was also mentioned.) In response, the makers of Zicam withdrew the two products from the market, pending review with the FDA. It’s important to note that other products in the Zicam line are not included in this warning, and have not been recalled. What’s the problem? The FDA has received more than 100 reports of people using the Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and Cold Remedy … Continue reading →

Scents and Dreams (and Nightmares)

German researchers have found that different smells can influence your dreams. When study participants were exposed to bad smells (researchers used rotten eggs), they generally had bad dreams. When study participants were exposed to good smells (researchers used roses), the dreams were generally good ones. It does make sense — smell stimulates a whole lot of behaviors in the body. Different scents can influence emotion, bring back memories, increase or decrease appetite, and even stimulate sexual arousal. Dangerous smells can even trigger a fight-or-flight response. The scent of burning (even if it’s just my neighbors using their grill on the … Continue reading →

What is Flehming?

I was sitting in the playroom at the cats-only boarding facility with a pair of cats from the same family. You may remember them — the annoying younger cat who kept patting his brother’s rump for attention? I had my legs stretched straight out, and the two cats were walking back and forth sniffing me. After sniffing a particular spot on my leg, the younger brother looked up at me and made a weird face. His mouth was hanging open, his nose twitched, and his lip curled up. This reaction is known as flehming. Cats have a vomeronasal organ (also … Continue reading →

Your Toddler’s Sense of Smell

Your toddler’s nose is nowhere near as discerning as yours is. It’s important to remember that our senses are heightened after pregnancy. The scent of a dirty diaper is pretty powerful to us, but not so much to our kids. Our body odor doesn’t offend them either – that’s why they’ll snuggle up to you even when you haven’t had a chance to shower all day and you may think you stink, but your child doesn’t notice. This lack of acuity and sensitivity in their sense of smell is part of the reason why your toddler cannot distinguish between safe … Continue reading →

What Makes Aromatherapy Work?

Think about your nose for a second. We think of it mainly for smelling things, but it has another extremely important job: regulating the movement of air into and out of the lungs. Between the two, your nose is an important part of what makes aromatherapy work. When you inhale a particular scent, millions of smell receptors carry messages about the scent right into the brain. These scent messages move through the brain and trigger emotional responses. These scent messengers also trigger chemical responses. Scents are often processed in the limbic system — the part of your brain that works … Continue reading →