When a fragrance wafted through the bedrooms of older adults for two hours every night for six months, memories skyrocketed. Participants in this study by University of California, Irvine neuroscientists reaped a 226% increase in cognitive capacity compared to the control group. The researchers say the finding transforms the long-known tie between smell and memory into an easy, non-invasive technique for strengthening memory and potentially deterring dementia.
— Read more in Sweet smell of success: Simple fragrance method produces major memory boost at ScienceDaily.
I looked up this research. Basically they exposed participants to a rotating set of EOs, at night, and after six months, some brain areas increased in volume, and the participants performed better on various memory tests. Here is the diffuser and oils they used: Individuals assigned to the olfactory enrichment group were provided with an odorant diffuser (Diffuser World) and 7 essential oil odorants (rose, orange, eucalyptus, lemon, peppermint, rosemary, and lavender; from The Essential Oil Company, Portland, OR) . They saw that the novelty seemed to make the difference. People who used a blended oil did not show the same improvement. The oils selected were a set that all the participants found pleasant. If you wanted to try this for yourself, you could use different oils, they need to be Soliflores and smell good to you. There is some suggestion that having a larger variety, say 12 or 15 instead of 7 would increase the effect over time. So interesting!
Thanks for the extra research! I’m going to move my diffuser to the bedroom. 😃
Thanks for your research! My mom, at 96, has lost much of her sense of smell with age, I wonder if EOs during sleep would affect her as well.
The scents were rotated every day for 6 months. Repeated exposure to the series of different oils lead people to sleep more soundly and a little longer, even for the subjects that did not experience increases in memory span, so I expect it would be good for almost everyone. Just need to make sure she likes the selection of oils. They ran the diffusers for two hours per night, soon after the abject went to sleep, so not all night long. I’ve seen other research about retraining a sense of smell after loss due to COVID or head injury that suggests that brief exposure during daytime also helps.
Thanks so much meredifay, that is all really helpful!
This is all so fascinating! 🤯Thank you for the summary and extra research meredifay!
I’d be very interested to hear how it goes with people who try this. Since I am on a CPAP for my asthma related issues( must loose 20 more pounds! The first 20 came off realatively easily because I had a strict routine built in for walking breaks and eating times.) I can’t really try it.