When my children were young, we had a dog. He could smell when they were arriving home, half a block before they arrived—the same way he knew from the other side of the house when I dropped a crust of bread on the kitchen floor. On our morning walks, the world he perceived through his nose was far more complicated than anything I could imagine.
We humans are used to ignoring our noses. We prioritize seeing or hearing, even touch. But our sense of smell is always there, affecting us subliminally even when we aren’t paying attention. It is all the more powerful for being the one sense that goes directly to the emotional part of our brain, bypassing the intellectual filters.
But we can teach ourselves to be more perceptive. Master perfumers are not simply olfactory savants. They go through rigorous training for years. When I was writing The Scent Keeper, my brain was playing with a puzzle: what would it be like for a child who had been raised with smell as her primary sense? How would our world appear to her? How would that training change for life?
[Scent] is all the more powerful for being the one sense that goes directly to the emotional part of our brain, bypassing the intellectual filters.
In the years I spent researching for The Scent Keeper, I came to more fully appreciate this underestimated sense of ours. My life became richer as a result. Below are 6 life hacks I learned that you can easily employ yourself:
Scent Lifehack #1: Do Better on Tests
Want to retain facts or words better? Learn them in the presence of a particular scent—preferably something you don’t already have a lot of associations with. When you take the test, take the scent with you. Inhaling will help bring back the memory of what you learned.
Note: a subtle, natural scent like rosemary is fine; you don’t need perfume.
Scent Lifehack #2: Shop Smarter
Studies have shown that people will underestimate the amount of time they spent shopping by up to 26% if they are in the presence of a pleasant smell like clementine or vanilla. (They will overestimate by up to 40% if the odor is foul.) When our noses are happy, our tendency to buy increases as well, by as much as 45%.
Many stores these days have signature scents. Inhale as you walk into a store—and be conscious of how you react. Buy the product, not the fragrance.
Scent Lifehack #3: Remember Special Days
Our brains are wired to associate memories with smells. The more memories associated with a particular fragrance, however, the more diffused its impact will be. You can use this to your advantage. Andy Warhol was said to have kept a personal scent museum. He would wear a fragrance for only a few months, then put it away. When he smelled it again, he was vaulted back to that period in his life.
Have a special event coming up? Choose a new fragrance and wear it only on that day. Smelling it later can provide you with a moment of olfactory time travel. Not into perfume? Then give some extra attention to the scents in your choice of flowers, food, even a special cocktail.
Scent Lifehack #4: Look Younger
Feeling a little older than you want to be? Try adding a citrus scent to your life. In one study, men who were in a room scented with grapefruit thought the women around them were six years younger on average than they actually were (and it’s a fascinating explanation for why my fragrance preference unconsciously shifted from spicy to citrus at the age of 55).
Scent Lifehack #5: Gamble Less
In 1992, Steve Wynn commissioned a signature fragrance for his Mirage casino in Las Vegas. The results were astonishing. When the fragrance was emitted in the slot machine room, the amount of time people spent gambling increased by as much as 45%.
Going to Las Vegas? Most casinos have their own signature scents now. If you want to lose less money, maybe choose the casino whose fragrance makes you a little uncomfortable.
Scent Lifehack #6: Get in the Mood
Scents are constantly affecting us; we can choose to use them with purpose. The Tokyo stock exchange has been known to diffuse peppermint essence in the afternoons, to perk up its stockbrokers when their energy would naturally start to lag. The smell of cinnamon improves concentration. Lavender can help you sleep. Jasmine is known as an antidepressant. There are authors who drink a particular tea only when they write, the associated smell becoming an automatic trigger for creativity. And if you want to arouse a man, studies have shown that the solution is as simple as the aroma of pumpkin pie.
This is just the beginning. I encourage you to get out, explore. Inhale. There are small miracles in the air around you. The more you pay attention, the more they can be yours.