Anosmia – what does it mean and why should we care?
Well for those that have not heard of it before and would like to know!
Anosmia is a complete loss of the ability to smell…..
When taken in context in regards to your other senses, the loss of your sense of smell should be nothing more than an inconvenience at most ? If you did loose it would you even miss it?
We would also love to know, would you ever ‘Voluntarily Give Up’ one of your senses?
In a survey carried out of 7,000 young people from around the world, approximately half of those between the age of 16 and 30 said that they would rather ‘Lose their Sense of Smell’ than give up access to technology like laptops or cell phones.
Well there is a saying that “Fair exchange is no robbery”, so it begs the question how much did these people know about the importance of their sense of smell to their health and well-being?
The second question would have to be, that if they did know and still choose to lose a sense rather than access to an electronic device! then how much sense do they have to lose in the first place? – ‘common’ or otherwise? and why is it called ‘Common Sense’ when it is such a rare commodity?
Research by Leslie Vosshall from The Rockefeller University estimated that the average person can detect at least one trillion different smells, and that the one trillion is probably an underestimation of the true number of smells we can detect, but for now I am sure it is enough for us to be getting on with… In fact, new research suggests that our noses can outperform our eyes and ears, which can discriminate between several million colours and approximately half a million tones.
The 27th of February is ‘Anosmia Awareness Day’ – it is a day to spread awareness about Anosmia and about how it effects the lives of those who suffer from it. As there are few outward signs of the disorder, the practical difficulties associated with it and how the nature of olfactory dysfunction and its consequences for an individual’s safety and quality of life are not widely appreciated or understood.
PAIRFUM London fully agrees with Dr. Vosshall who says that – “It’s time to give our sense of smell the recognition it deserves,”. We would go even further and say that current ongoing and future research will show just how important and underrated our sense of smell is to our health and lives.
