Psychology_(Smell)

We as humans take the simplictictys of life for granted; The many things people think they may never lose is their five senses. Being able to hear the world around them, taste the finer things in life, being able to feel the soft touch of  your loved one, smelling breakfast in the morning, or being able to smell your perfume or colonge, or the worst of them all...losing your sight and your vision is blurrs or nothing at all.  Losing a function of the body can be devastating especially if someone wasnt born with the deficency that they are experiencing. If I were to lose one of my five senses and i had a choice in the matter on which one, I would choose to lose my sense of smell. Your sense of smell is a part of the nervous system, losing your sense of smell is called Anosmia; Asosmia can be either permanent or temporary. What many people do not know is when you lose your sense of smell you also lose your sense of taste as well because your ears, nose and throat are all connected. The flavors of food are generally recognized mainly through the sense of smell  although the individual may still be able to taste salt, sour, bitterness, and sweetness; these senses are recieved by receptors of the toungue. Usually people who are more prone to lose their sense of smell is the elderly or it goes down as you age because the cells are replaced more slowly .Also in some cases a difference in smell or a gradual change in smell can be beginning signs of disease. Losing the ability to smell has some  physiological and psychological affects. The physiological effects that losing my sense of smell would be not to be able to taste my favortie foods, smell my perfume, which it would be limiting my quality of life. Since the smell affects the taste many may lose significant amounts of weight and in others they may gain significant amounts of weight from not being able to taste food. Smell also has a survival functions which helps us to determine early signs of danger such as smoke, fuel, fires, and dangerous chemicals. The psychological effects losing your sense of smell would have you not realzing your own body odor, you become insecure, withdrawn from society and depressed. For me it would be in some ways a good thins because who wants to smell pollution or trash or someone's body odor. Memories also plays a big part in our lives from events that have occured in the past.  Also we have scent memories; Many remember past social events holidays, birthdays or just memories with their grandparents and they had a particlaur smell that you would remember or someone would bake something and that smell would bring back a memory. WIthout being able to smell you cannot create vivd memories. When you have a child the infant and mother can recongnize the mother through the sense of  smell. Losing your sense of smell isnt as devastating as to the body than other senses may be. Nevertheless,  Losing your sense of smell reminds us of what we are missing out of the simple things in life, scent memories, being able to smell food and your loved ones.