In the UK and US combined, an estimated 66 million people lost their sense of smell for a period of time after contracting the Covid virus. Of this group, something like six million have suffered long term problems with their sense of smell, having either no or a very poor sense of smell, and sometimes distortions that make foods like coffee, onions, and chocolate seem disgusting (parosmia).
There is no magic cure for this condition, called anosmia (total loss) or hyposmia (very poor sense of smell). There are ways that you can help yourself though. This is a short guide to help you on your way.
Smell training is an effective technique that stimulates the parts of the brain that help you smell. It is a technique that has been researched for the last 15 years and in all the studies it has been shown to be useful. Not just for smell loss, but for smell distortions or parosmia. Smell training is useful for depression, cognitive (verbal) function of the brain, and it also causes changes to the thickness of the brain cortex!
To start, you will need a smell training kit. Make your own, or buy one from Scent Recover. It is not important what you smell, whether essential oils or spices from your cupboard. What is important is how you use your brain while you do it.
Open a jar (jars are better for this. There’s an explanation in the kit-making instructions) and hold it close to your nose. Take quick, gentle ‘bunny’ sniffs for 20 seconds. Really concentrate on what you are doing – focus your thoughts on what it is you are trying to smell. Be as attentive as you can and really try to ‘find’ that smell. If you can’t smell at all, do you notice any kind of a smell “message”? When you first open the lid do you notice anything at all, even a bad smell? If so, there is life in your olfactory nerves. Smell training builds on this. Even if you can’t tell the difference between an empty jar and your smell training jar, concentrate on telling yourself what you are trying to smell. There have been many examples of people who report “zero sense of smell” responding well to smell training.
Keep concentrating and telling yourself about what it is you are trying to smell. If you are training with lemon essential oil, look at images of lemons, try to remember experiences with lemons. You could also hold a lemon, look carefully at it, scratch the skin with your fingernail, hold it to your nose. The “closer” you can get to the lemon in your mind, the better it will be for you. You are reconnecting your higher olfactory brain (which links to memory and emotion) with whatever receptors are firing in your olfactory bulbs. This is the rebuilding of new neural networks.
Relax, take a few breaths and move on to the next fragrance.
Work through all four fragrances in turn.
It should take no more than 5 minutes. Do it morning and evening. Change up the items in your kit, add more, and choose things that you like. You can use household objects too: tennis balls, soap, shampoo–anything with a smell signal that you can pick up. To experience the benefit, you must do this consistently, twice a day every day, for a minimum of four months. A couple of times a week is not enough and will lead to disappointment and frustration.
What do you have to lose? Thousands of people have benefited. Why not you?
