summary: A new study is urging researchers to study how natural scents affect human health and well-being. Although the visual aspects of nature have been widely studied, the olfactory aspects are still understudied.
Scientists have proposed a framework for investigating how natural scents, consciously and unconsciously perceived, influence our emotions, thoughts, and physical health.
Important facts:
- The human olfactory system can detect over 1 trillion scents.
- Plants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have potential health benefits.
- Further research is needed to fully understand the impact of natural scents on human well-being.
sauce: University of Washington
Spending time in nature is good for us. Research shows that contact with nature can increase our well-being by influencing our emotions, influencing our thinking, reducing stress, and improving our physical health.
Even short exposure to nature can be beneficial. One famous study found that hospital patients recovered faster if they had a view of nature from their room window.
Learning more about nature’s effects on our bodies can not only help our health, but also improve the way we care for land, protect ecosystems, and design cities, homes, and parks. there is. However, research on the benefits of contact with nature has typically focused primarily on how viewing nature affects us.
There is less focus on what the nose knows. A group of researchers wants to change that.
“We are immersed in a world of odorants and have sophisticated olfactory systems to process them, which in turn influence our emotions and behavior,” said Gregory, assistant professor of environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington.・Mr. Bratman says.
“But compared to research on the benefits of looking at nature, we know very little about how nature’s scents and olfactory cues affect us.”
In a paper published on May 15th, scientific progressBratman and colleagues from around the world outline ways to expand research into how smells and aromas from the natural environment affect our health and well-being.
The multidisciplinary group of experts in olfaction, psychology, ecology, public health, atmospheric science and other fields is based at institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Germany, Poland and Cyprus.
At the heart of the human sense of smell is a complex chemical detection system that is constantly in operation. The nose is packed with hundreds of olfactory receptors, which are sophisticated chemical sensors.
Together, they can detect more than a trillion scents, and that information is delivered directly to our nervous system for our minds to interpret, consciously or not.
Nature releases a steady stream of compounds to keep our olfactory systems busy. Plants in particular emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can linger in the air for hours or days.
VOCs serve many functions for plants, including repelling herbivores and attracting pollinators. Some researchers are studying the effects of exposure to plant VOCs on people.
“We know pieces of the picture,” Bratman said. “But there is much more to learn. We are proposing a framework for how to investigate the close relationship between olfaction, nature, and human well-being, building on many other important studies. .”
According to the authors, natural odor-mediated effects are likely to occur through a variety of pathways. Some compounds, including some in the invisible realm of plant VOCs, may be acting on us without our conscious awareness.
In these cases, olfactory receptors in the nose may be causing a “subthreshold” response to molecules of which people are largely unaware.
Bratman and his co-authors will significantly expand research into when, where, and how these undetected biochemical processes associated with natural VOCs may affect us. We are calling for expansion.
Other olfactory signals are also consciously sensed, but scientists do not fully understand all their effects on our health and well-being. For example, some scents may have a “universal” interpretation for humans. It almost always has a pleasant smell, like a sweet-smelling flower.
As co-author Asifa Majid of the University of Oxford’s research shows, some scents are closely linked to specific memories, and others have different associations and interpretations depending on culture and personal experience.
“Understanding how the sense of smell mediates our relationship with the natural world and the benefits we derive from it is an interdisciplinary endeavor,” Bratman says.
“This includes insights from the study of olfactory function, indigenous knowledge, Western psychology, anthropology, atmospheric chemistry, forest ecology, forest bathing, or ‘forest bathing,’ neuroscience, and more. ”
Research into the potential link between our sense of smell and positive experiences with nature includes work by co-author Cecilia Benbibre of University College London, which It shows that the cultural significance of smells, including objects, can be passed down to different people in a community. new generation.
Co-author Jieling Xiao from Birmingham City University looked closely at the associations people have with the built environment and the scents of urban gardens.
Other co-authors showed that nature leaves its mark on the very air we breathe. For example, forests release a complex chemical environment into the air. Research by co-author Jonathan Williams of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Cyprus Institute shows how natural VOCs react and mix in the atmosphere, influencing the olfactory environment.
The authors also explore how human activities alter nature’s olfactory footprint, both through pollution that can modify or destroy odorants in the air, and through the reduction of habitats that emit beneficial scents. We are calling for further research to investigate whether this is the case.
“In some cases, human activities are changing the environment so rapidly that we are learning about these benefits at the same time that we are making it more difficult for people to access them.” Bratman said.
“We hope that research will further uncover these connections and allow us to make more informed decisions about our impact on the natural world and the volatile organic compounds it produces.” As stated in the paper, we live in a chemical environment created by nature.
“By understanding this further, we can advance efforts to contribute to human well-being and protect the natural world.”
Other co-authors on the paper include Peter Kahn, an avowed psychologist. Connor Rushus, graduate student in the Department of Environmental and Forest Sciences; Ann Riederer is a clinical associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. Other co-authors are his Gretchen Daily of Stanford University; Richard Doty of the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas Hummel of the Technical University of Dresden. Lucia Jacobs of the University of California, Berkeley. John Miller of Wildwood | Mahonia. Anna Oreszkiewicz from the University of Wrocław. Hector Olvera-Alvarez of Oregon Health and Science University. Valentina Palma of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Nancy Long Seaver and John Spengler of Harvard University; and his colleague Chia-Pin Yu of National Taiwan University.
About this research news on smell and health
author: james arton
sauce: University of Washington
contact: James Urton – University of Washington
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Nature and human well-being: the olfactory pathway” by Gregory Bratman et al. scientific progress
abstract
Nature and human well-being: the olfactory pathway
The world is experiencing large-scale changes in its atmosphere and ecosystems, posing unprecedented challenges to human well-being. Olfaction is an important sensory system in which these effects occur.
The sense of smell influences quality and satisfaction of life, emotions, emotional regulation, cognitive function, social interactions, food choices, stress, and depressive symptoms. Exposure via the olfactory pathway can also cause (anti)inflammatory consequences.
Further understanding is needed of how odorants produced by nature (i.e., the natural olfactory environment) influence human well-being.
Drawing from a wide range of health, social, and natural science perspectives, we provide an overview of this unique sensory system, four consensus statements about olfaction and the environment, and a conceptual framework for integrating the olfactory pathway into understanding the effects of nature. Environment related to human happiness.
We then discuss how this framework can contribute to a better explanation of the effects of policy and land use decisions on the natural olfactory environment and, in turn, on the health of the planet.
