Pause at the door of your kitchen momentarily before you bolt off to work and breathe in the fresh aroma of coffee beans for a shot of serotonin.
It’s well worth your time, according to new research on aromic brainpower in coffee. Who’d believe that coffee scents hold enough voltage to power you past stresse
s you’ll face during the day.Listen to NPR’s latest interview from neuroscience about how coffee activates several genes that help people past workplace pressures. Not bad when you think of 22 stressors hitting against your brain on an ordinary day.
We’ve known for some time that odors - from smelly runners to fresh cut roses – can impact how people feel and act. Some workplaces even promote scents for well-being.
Now brain scans show how different smells stimulate mood control centers within your brain. How does it work?
In your olfactory system, tiny filaments … called olfactory receptors, located in your nose, talk to correlating centers in your brain. How so?
These receptors absorb scent molecules which stimulate olfactory bulbs linked to mood related centers in the brain.
Here’s the skinny for your own test.
Start with essential oils to see what works well where you work. These include oils extracted from roots flowers, leaves and stalks of plants. It’s generally held that these scents work quickest to convert people’s moods into more emotional, intellectual, and physical well-being.
Talk to others and see how successful firms seem to smell success intuitively. Realtors tell us they sell homes faster when hosts heat apple cider on a back burner.
Chiropractors light vanilla candles to raise people’s serotonin levels ... and home appliance departments display cinnamon buns or apple pie scents.
Have you sniffed any aromas lately that jolted you away – or changed your mood at work?
Explains why even when I didn't drink coffee, I loved the smell of it!
Posted by: Robyn | June 23, 2008 4:20 PM | Permalink to Comment