Healthy Smells
To Resist a Snack Attack
Sniff: Green Apple or Another Favorite Scent
A fragrance you love can help manage cravings, according
Alan Hirsch, MD, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment
and Research Foundation in Chicago. In one study, Hirsch
gave overweight people banana, green apple, and
peppermint to sniff when they felt a craving; they lost more
weight than nonsniffers.
Try this: Keep a bottle of a favorite scent handy
throughout the day and try sniffing instead of snacking.
To Calm Down
Sniff: Orange or Lavender
In an Austrian study, researchers wafted the smell of
oranges before some participants and lavender before
others. The two groups felt less anxious, more positive, and
calmer, compared with participants who were exposed to
no fragrance at all.
Try this: Add a few drops of either oil to a room diffuser
and use in your office on stressful days.
To Learn Something New
Sniff: Rosemary
Next time a presentation or new software program drives
you crazy, think of Shakespeare’s poor Ophelia. After
Hamlet made her nuts, she toddled around the castle
picking rosemary, muttering, "That's for remembrance."
Researchers at the University of Northumbria in the United
Kingdom found she was on to something. After exposure to
rosemary oil, 48 college students outperformed a control
group on memory tests and felt more alert throughout.
Try this: Buy a plant or two for your windowsill, so you
can pluck a branch to smell while you're studying or
memorizing something for work.
To Fight Pain
Sniff: Lavender or Peppermint
Looking for ways to use less pain medication, doctors at
New York University Medical Center exposed patients
undergoing laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery to lavender
oil (applied to the anesthesiology face masks they wore
during surgery). Those patients required substantially less
morphine and needed fewer analgesics afterward.
Peppermint helps too. After a review of several studies, a
Wheeling Jesuit University researcher concluded that it can
ease headache pain, and German headache researchers
report that the brisk smell is as effective as acetaminophen.
Try this: Next time you have a headache, inhale the scent
from a handkerchief sprinkled with a few drops of lavender
or peppermint.
To Soothe Menstrual Cramps
Sniff: Essential Oils
A 2006 study in Korea divided women with intense
menstrual cramps into three groups. One group received a
daily 15-minute abdominal massage with essential oils for
1 week before their periods, another group got the same
massages without fragrance, and the last group received no
therapy. Those in the aromatherapy group reported that
their discomfort decreased by half.
Try this: Add 2 drops of lavender oil, 1 drop of clary sage
oil, and 1 drop of rose oil to an almond oil base and
massage into your abdomen once a day for a week before
your period.
To Rev Your Libido
Sniff: Baby Powder
This, along with cucumber and licorice, has been shown to
turn women on, increasing vaginal blood flow by 13%.
Pumpkin pie and lavender increase blood flow by 11%.
Try this: Soften your skin with some baby powder after
showering. Or to cap a romantic dinner, serve pumpkin pie
and keep a cucumber-scented sachet next to your pillow.
To Feel Younger
Sniff: Pink Grapefruit
This fresh citrus smell can influence perceptions of age.
When volunteers viewed photographs of 20 models after
being exposed to the smell of pink grapefruit, they
perceived the models as being 3 years younger than did
people who judged the photos while smelling nothing.
Try this: A grapefruity perfume like Antica Farmacista's
Grapefruit ($62)
To Crank Up Your Workout
Sniff: Peppermint
In a study at Wheeling Jesuit University, peppermint
vapors gave college basketball players more motivation,
energy, speed, and confidence. Some athletes use
peppermint inhalers, and at one time Reebok even built a
peppermint smell into some sports bras.
Try this: When you're flagging during your power walk,
take an invigorating hit from the Peak Performance Sports
Inhaler with peppermint vapors ($10; sportsinhaler.com.)
To Sleep More Deeply
Sniff: Lavender
There's a reason people have been filling pillows with
lavender flowers for centuries: Earlier research
demonstrated that lavender increases deep slow-wave
sleep, and recent studies from England and Korea show that
the flower also helps people with mild insomnia.
Try this: Spritz your bedpost with lavender essence just
before bed.