Follow Your Nose to Wellbeing

The benefits of removing odors from your home, work, or car

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Do you know that the average human nose can detect at least one trillion distinct scents?

Whether you’re in the forest with pine trees, on a breezy beach by the ocean, in your bedroom on a rainy day, or starting a car in a garage, your sense of smell detects hundreds of olfactory stimuli—better known as scents—each day. Thus, our sense of smell plays an important role in how we feel and how we perceive the world around us.

Pleasant smells can improve mood, cue memories and enhance wellbeing. Odors such as those from smoke, gas, or waste can make us feel stressed or annoyed, may cause headaches or irritate the eyes or throat, and can even contribute to a perceived sense of danger.  Body odor can influence perceptions of attractiveness and intelligence and odors in your home or vehicle may contribute to reduced value when its time to sell. Odor has also been linked to lowered productivity levels in the workplace.

Since one-quarter of Americans spend 21 to 24 hours inside daily, scents and smells in our homes, work environments, and cars are an important part of our wellbeing.  By removing odors we can improve our overall quality of life. Here’s some advice to help you remove odors for fresher air.

• Open a window or use a fan. While cooking or after taking out the trash, open a window or turn on a fan for fresher air.
• Use an odor eliminating air freshener. Aerosols, deodorizers, gels and plug-ins are designed to enhance or condition the indoor environment by eliminating unpleasant odors and imparting a greater sense of wellbeing.
• Consider fresh flowers. Scents like rose have been shown to have antidepressant benefits because they are calming and uplifting. Consider setting fresh cut flowers on your office desk or kitchen table.
• Light a candle. Candles help eliminate smells and freshen the air.

Scents play an important role in wellbeing and odors can negatively affect quality of life. Air care products in combination with natural solutions provide real, tangible benefits to creating and maintaining a healthy life.