Anosmia is when a person loses the sense of smell. It can be caused by a head injury, certain chemicals, or can be congenital. There are other causes listed in this website. The way we can detect odors is by our olfactory cells in the nose which then send signals to the brain. When someone has lost their sense of smell it's because either something is blocking these nerve cells or they have been injured and can't send messages back to the brain.
The following video demonstrates how many people don't know what anosmia is or have never heard about it. They show two people who have anosmia, a teenager girl and a middle age man. The girl lost her sense of smell when she was a baby through a head injury. The man lost it due to being exposed to certain chemicals during a class. They mention that the taste is more appreciated and associated with the texture of the food.
Don't take your sense of smell for granted!
Norma, I agree that smell is vital for human because without it, we wouldn’t be able to smell the variety of foods out there because most of the time whenever we are about to try a new food the first thing we do is smell it, and depending on how its smells we decide if it’s good to try it or not. Also how you mentioned, we wouldn’t be able to determine if we are in a state of danger.
ReplyDeleteReading your post has definitely made me appreciate my nose and sense of smell so much more. I can't imagine waking up and not being able to smell coffee or my minty fresh breath after I brush my teeth. I really enjoyed reading/learning and watching the video you have included regarding ansomia. The man in the video, however, was of particular interest. As a chemistry minor, and having to constantly work with experiments that deal with powerful chemicals, it really made me want be more cautious.
ReplyDeleteI actually use my sense of smell very often and never take it for granted I can’t even imagine what I would do without my sense of smell. I find myself using this sense all the time and I think it’s a very important sense because without this sense life would never be the same. Smell is what warns us of danger and makes us feel emotions that could cause memory. For example, when I cut the yard in a sunny day I like the smell of grass right after it has been cut, also when you are cooking dinner you could the smell of all the herbs and seasoning all mixing to make a beautiful smell. Even when you go to the island you could smell a combination between the water and sand that could make you feel happy or joyful. I think smell is something so important for a person to have so that they could function properly and learn to relate things in life that could either help or harm you and of course if they are things that can harm you, you would avoid those things. I would hate to have Anosmia because just thinking of everything you use to know and remember as smell will never be there again and plus this would also cause for your meals never to taste the same again.
ReplyDeleteI know for sure that I also take my ability to smell for granted. We may sometimes even wish we didn't have it when we smell something repulsive. It makes a lot of sense that taste is attributed to smell. You can smell that delicious cheesy pizza long before you can savor it in your mouth. I cannot imagine what it is like not to have the ability to smell. I once met a fellow classmate who was unable to taste and smell since birth. He seemed pretty normal but I am sure he did have some invisible limitations.
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