Researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison showed 14 healthy participants disturbing images in order to induce anxiety. When normally benign or neutral odors were presented, the anxious participants interpreted them as foul or negative. After scanning the participants’ brains, it became clear to senior author Wen Li, MD, PhD, an assistant professor at the university, that something significant was going on between the emotional and olfactory (smell) processing centers of the brain. “Anxiety motivates the crosstalk between the emotion and olfaction systems," she said. “As a result, our ordinary olfactory experience can be tainted by the emotion we experience at the moment.” The research not only provides insight into how the brain rewires itself under stress, but it also reveals a potential loop that could actually heighten distress. “These negative emotion states can expose the perceivers to greater sensory stress in the environment, forming a vicious cycle that escalates into greater or pathological anxiety or depression,” Dr. Li said. Smell is only one helpful way to alert your body that something is up. Take a look at 5 more health cues you should start paying attention to.
