Axios: Train your nose. Comment: Post TBI I lost sense of smell, it counts, it makes life difficult when you cannot smell. It excludes you from conversations

Posted on July 16, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

 
 
1 big thing: Train your nose
Illustration of squiggly arrows pointing at a nose.
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
 
Exercising your sense of smell may help preserve brain health as you age.

Why it matters: Smell is arguably the least valued of the five senses. American students say they’d rather lose their sense of smell than their hair, phone or even a pinky toe. But researchers see this sense as both an early indicator of cognitive health and a potential way to keep the brain sharp, Richard Sima writes for The Washington Post (gift link).

👃 Zoom in: Losing your sense of smell is often one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, sometimes appearing a decade before other symptoms, Sima writes.

But it’s not just a sign. Training your nose can boost cognitive function by improving neuroplasticity, or how well the brain can change itself, according to early research in Neuropsychology Review.

🍋 How it works: Try sniffing a range of different scents for about 20 seconds at a time, once or twice a day. You can buy smell training kits, but you can also just take in all the wonderful smells you encounter every day.

Common smell training scents are lemon, rose, eucalyptus and clove, Sima notes. But you could also pay closer attention to the smells of your morning cup of coffee, your lawn after a fresh mow or your favorite dessert in the oven.

Grab blindfolds and turn smell training into a game to play with kids or grandkids.

The bottom line: As Sima puts it, “stopping to smell the roses is good life advice.”
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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