How Perfume Relieves Stress?
Stress. Who doesn’t have stress? It’s so common in the postmodern era that you’re surprised if someone is stress-free. Gone are the days that city dwellers live stressful lives, and urban and rural areas don’t. Did you know that perfume can relieve stress?
Since the dawn of time humanity enjoyed the various fragrances, nature provided. Today men and women wear their favorite fragrances as perfumes on their bodies. Of the five senses, the smell is probably the sense that causes the most delight with the strongest emotional effect.
The wonderful unique smell of perfume evokes an emotional response. Herein lies the power of perfume fragrances to alleviate stress. How does something that smells so nice also relieve stress?
Mood Change
It’s almost impossible to inhale a sweet smelling rose and stay grumpy. How much more would the sensual, romantic rose fragrance of perfume evoke positive emotions? The whiff of someone’s perfume or cologne causes a strong emotional reaction. How many times have the delicate aroma of someone’s perfume caused you to smile or turned your head to see who it belonged to? How often have you smelled a cologne and associated it with masculinity?
It only takes one whiff to be bombarded with pleasant sensations and memories.
It is also true that fragrances may have a negative emotional response when associated with a traumatic event. Positive emotional reactions outweigh by far negative reactions to a specific perfume fragrance. The positive triggers sent to the brain, however, are substantial enough to associate perfume fragrances with beauty, love, happiness and other positive emotions.
You don’t even need to smell another person’s perfume or cologne to have a positive mood response. When you move around, the whiff of your perfume or cologne creates emotional responses. You feel good about yourself. You can create an atmosphere of desired emotions with the perfume you choose to wear for a specific occasion.
Studies indicated that a good mood relieves stress. It’s impossible to smile and stress simultaneously. Happiness and stress are poor companions.
Perfume fragrances positively affect your mood. The emotions and memories fragrances cause results in the brain secreting endorphins. Endorphins have a relaxing effect and counteract stress.
The effect perfumes have on feeling good is so strong that the perfume doesn’t even have to contain relaxing ingredients. The sheer experience of smelling the fragrance you like, causes you to relax.
Citrus Fragrances
It’s a well-known fact that citrus fruits like lemons, oranges, and grapefruit have health benefits as food. But did you know by simply smelling perfume containing these fragrances can have a positive effect on your mood?
A study published in the Japanese Journal of Psychopharmacology showed that the fragrances of citrus fruit fragrances had a calming effect and restored stress-induced immunosuppresses. When patients treated for depression inhale citrus fruit fragrances, the calming effect was so positive that their dosages of antidepressant medications were decreased.
Increased heartrates often accompany stress and anxiety. Lemon and yuzu fruits have an almost response in combatting stress. These fruits can reduce heart rates within 10 minutes. The calming effect reduces the stress and anxiety that caused the increased heart rate.
Jasmine Scent
Jasmine comes from the Persian word “Yasmine” which means “a gift from God.” The powerful fragrance of the jasmine bloom inspired such a name. The fragrance is truly a gift to the perfume world. More than 80% perfumes for women and a third of men’s perfumes contain jasmine fragrance.
Jasmine oil is a natural health remedy against stress, anxiety, and depression. Jasmine smell evokes a calm and relaxed feeling, ideal for a romantic evening.
The floral scent inspires a feeling of life and joy like the blooming spring flowers after a harsh winter. Floral scented perfumes create images of love, romance, and femininity. Feeling sexy and feminine are great weapons against stress and anxiety.
To produce 1 kilogram of jasmine absolute 7.5 million flowers are needed. Therefore, perfume containing jasmine absolute are expensive. Fortunately, it’s possible to create the jasmine fragrance synthetically which produces affordable jasmine scented perfumes.
Fruity Fragrances
Fruity fragrances like apples, blueberries, cranberries, and watermelon unlock a feeling of happiness. A happy feeling boosts a positive mood which in turn alleviates stress and anxiety. Take a watermelon as an example. Just the thought of it evokes images of sunshine, summer, picnics, and other happy memories. Watermelons have a fresh taste, and the smell of watermelons induces a similar freshness.
A 2008 study showed that the crisp fragrance of apples reduced migraines and headaches. Headaches often accompany anxiety and stress. It causes a downward spiral effect of depleted productivity and concentration that increases stress which leads to more headaches. Relief from headaches is a positive step towards reducing stress.
Takeaway
Your sense of smell links to the emotional center of your brain. The power of perfumes lies in those memories and emotional experience the fragrance triggers. A small whiff of fragrance and your memory is stirred, and you emotionally react to the scent. These positive emotions automatically influence your moods and decrease stress and anxiety.
Wearing perfume with a certain fragrance evokes positive feelings and attitude about yourself. You feel the femininity of being a woman or the masculinity of a man. Perfumes create atmospheres of romance, a happy feeling and a desire for life.
The enjoyment of the perfume’s smell creates an atmosphere where stress cannot survive. Also, the ingredients of various perfumes have a direct impact on the brain to release anti-stress hormones.