Covid-19: Use Essential Oils to Help You Recover Your Sense of Smell
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak there have been countless cases of people loosing their sense of smell and taste. Research shows that using essential oils can help you recover your sense of smell.
This is not a new idea. For decades essential oils have been used for post-viral anosmia or hyposmia, it is referred to as 'smell training'. Since over 80% of your sense of taste comes from what you smell it can support a recovery of sense of taste as well.
Loss of smell can be due to the infection, inflammation, obstruction, damage to the nerves and sensory neurons, or damage to the olfactory epithelium, or some combination of these. There seems to be a metabolic alteration that occurs leading to oxidative stress and cellular damage.
How does it work?
When you smell an odor the molecules from the odor go up your nasal passage and tell the neurons to send messages to your brain. Using essential oils is an age old method to help recover from trauma, reduce stress, support better sleep, reduce blood pressure, bring back latent memories, and even support proper digestion.
There are over 120 different essential oils used for various purposes. Using plant extracts you can diffuse, breathe, or apply topically to support a more holistic lifestyle. Types of essential oils most often used to help your sense of smell are rose, lemon, eucalyptus, and clove. The oils reduce inflammation of the sinus and anti-viral effects which increases cell creation.
Each of us has our own genetic code that we are born with and that is further altered by the lifestyle we lead, how we eat, if we become allergic to food/inhalants, and what medical remedies we chose.
How to Train Your Smell
Professor Thomas Hummel published the first study in 2009 using the four odours of rose, clove, eucalyptus and lemon. He chose these fragrances because they are distinct from each other, and would be recognizable to most people in the study. (1)
It isn't so much what exact scent that you chose to smell. It is about the act of mindfully smelling the same four scents each morning and night. And it is important to chose four scents that are different from one another. So, for example don't select lemon, orange, cinnamon, and allspice. They are too similar to one another.
Once you have selected your scents you want to smell each of them every morning and night, leaving a little break between each. Take shallow breaths thus allowing the odor to linger in your nasal passage. This will be done for 3-6 months depending on how you respond. After 3 months if you see improvement you can switch up the scents to four different ones and start again retraining your brain.
Video for More Information
Here is a video to better understand what is happening and how to properly smell train. The company is from the United Kingdom and has a kit you can purchase. But, I would just use essential oils or even household items that have strong odors. I have not had Covid but I lost my sense of smell years ago after decades of allergies and allergy medication use. I will be starting this smell training in the hopes of recovering my own sense of smell. As a cook, it's a horrible thing to have such a weak sense of smell. And in case you are curious the oils I had on hand and have decided to use are: peppermint, lavender, fir balsam, and lemon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9rNrfv0SU0
Work Cited:
(1) https://abscent.org/learn-us/smell-training/how-smell-train
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8396277/
www.youngliving.com The science behind aromatherapy
