Ever wondered why when you walk past someone and their cologne reminds you of an ex? Or, how a baby always knows how to find its mother's breastmilk? Well, today we are diving into just how impactful the science of scent is on your mind, mood, and memory.

The sense of smell is integral to how we operate and has a huge impact on your daily life. This receptor creates a powerful reaction that will affect your emotions, mood, concentration and memory.

There are studies that show before babies are born, the sense of smell begins to develop whilst they’re in the womb. When we are first born scent is one of the first senses to be activated. 

The olfactory nerve, handles our sense of smell and directly links to the part of our brain that monitors emotion and memory. The amygdala helps process emotions, the hippocampus is essential for memory, and the orbitofrontal cortex aids decision making and awareness.

These three areas work together to send information to the brain and other areas of your body for it to process. 

75% of our emotions generated each day are due to smell. We are 100 times more likely to remember something we smell over something we touch, see or hear. 

Our senses are vital to our day to day life but particularly the use of our nose. If we close our eyes and put headphones in and just use our nose, it automatically will detect the smells around us. So when we smell something bad i.e. gas we know there is a problem and we react with fear. When we smell something lovely i.e. freshly baked bread, we react with a sense of happiness. 

As we grow up our sense of smell is not as acute as it is when we are first developing. We tend to use our other receptors in our day to day life. We don’t pay too much attention to our nose but instead listen to music or podcasts that might improve our mood, or we might browse around the shops and find something delightful to buy. However, it is really important to practice using your nose as much as you can and being aware of the scents around you. 

As you inhale our Stellar Daily Serum, the use of our ingredients are scientifically proven to lower your cortisol levels, and boost the parasympathetic nervous system. This will make you feel calm and relaxed.

The same concept goes for our Lit Daily Serum, it will boost your cognition, mood and energise you. The specific formulations we use are all carefully chosen to ultimately release dopamine and serotonin, that is essential to your day to day function. 

Serotonin and Dopamine are neurotransmitters to regulate bodily functions. Serotonin, will regulate your mood and send a signal to the brain that says “this feels great, I’ve had enough”, and dopamine will, regulate motivation and tell the brain “this feels great, I want more”.

When these two chemical messengers are in harmony together they, contribute to feelings and emotions behind pleasure, reward and maintain a chemical balance in the body. 

Humans are naturally drawn to pleasurable emotions and memories and so the scents in your daily life or in the products you choose will always resonate with your mind and body. So when you need a boost or a reset, always link back to your nose.