The sense of smell can be lost for various reasons, not least Covid. The loss of smell is also an early sign of dementia or Parkinson’s Disease. The rehabilitation of smell involves working with sight, hearing and memory. You’ll need a torch or lamp, earbuds and/or an electric toothbrush.
To begin rehabilitation, get three different smells from the kitchen, such as lemon peel, mint and vanilla. Shut your eyes, cover one nostril and sniff each one. Then change nostril and compare. It is common for one nostril to have a better sense of smell than the other – and there are 2 parts to the sense of smell – can you smell it, and can you identify the smell.
We’re going to rehabilitate the weaker nostril with the weakest smell. Cover the better nostril, then position a light source forwards and above the same eye as the closed nostril. If rehabilitating the right nostril, illuminate from above the left. Sniff away at the annoyingly weak smell. If there is no improvement, we can try adding sound to one ear, and/or vibration with your electric toothbrush on your jawbone. Try different sides to see which helps. (But the light remains above the opposite eye).
On its route through the brain, smells are identified in the region that handles speech and vocabulary, and from there into the hippocampus, a major player in memory. ((Another part of the brain involved particularly with the identification of smell is in the frontal lobes. LIght playing into the opposite eye to the weaker nostril will help this area too, as will remembering stuff, like lists of things).
Therefore, to further improve smell, combine it with memory – list all the fruits and vegetables you can, starting with a letter: B, for example.
You can combine these rehab exercises in other scenarios. When talking to someone on the phone, hold the phone to the ear that helped, and position the light as before, with a sprig of mint or similar to hand.
Aside from broader health concerns, it is worth cultivating your sense of smell because it improves your appreciation of food, and abilities as a cook.
