Practices in Smelling: Mood

Noticing how your mood changes what you smell.

Philippe Mercier, The Sense of Smell. Wikimedia Commons

The other day I was on the phone with my health insurance for what seemed like hours. I was disputing a charge that was mistakenly not billed to my insurance (if you know U.S. health insurance maybe this sounds familiar 😊). Needless to say, when I hung up I was in a terrible mood.

I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea, hoping it would help me unwind after the whole fiasco. But the first sip startled me a bit - it just didn’t taste right. Mind you, it was the same tea I always drink, yet somehow in that moment it tasted off.

It turns out it’s biology.

Science has long shown that our mood states can shift how pleasant or gross we perceive something to smell or taste, how sensitive our noses are to odors, and even what odors we pay attention to around us. In my case, I was completely aggravated after that call, so my mood state was negative. That caused my tea to taste off in that moment. Scientists call this a hedonic shift, the way emotion alters what we find pleasant or unpleasant.

I learned that when you’re sad, anxious, or tired, your brain and body slow down a little. And, interestingly, so does your sense of smell. Studies have found that when we’re in a negative mood, we have a harder time noticing faint smells. Our nose still works the same way, but our brain is less tuned in.

It can work the other way around, too. Sometimes, when you’re stressed or scared, your brain actually becomes more sensitive to smells, especially sharp, recognizably dangerous odors, like something burning or rotten. It’s an ancient survival mechanism, part of your body’s “stay alert” system. So there’s that.

Our brains are wired to notice what matches our mood. When we’re anxious, we might notice “bad” or threatening smells first, even if they’re faint. When we’re relaxed, we notice comforting or neutral smells more easily.

So, let’s apply these concepts in this month’s Practices in Smelling. I invite you to exercise your smell muscle and deepen your understanding of smells. Here are a few things to try out.