By
R. Davies

This is the second part in our series on the Sense of Smell. In this part, Richard Davies explores what practical steps we can take to employ the sense of smell in or lives.

The main thing I have found with people is that they don't actually realise the "offensive" odour people normally refer to as sweat is in fact a combination of diet (meat, yeast, alcohols, to name a few) and an imbalance of anaerobic bacteria (Staphylococcus Auras, a carbon dioxide driven bacteria), not perspiration per se. In other words, by letting good bacteria (Staphylococcus Epidermis, an oxygen driven bacteria) just do its job- without contending with synthetic cocktails called “deodorant” and “medicated soaps” - you would not “Smell” offensive.

Believe it or not, many germs are helpful, and the skin has its own abilities to protect the body from the bad ones. Antibacterial soaps indiscriminately kill all germs and disrupt the delicate balance of micro-flora that is necessary for healthy skin.

In fairness I must say that there is a place for antibacterial soaps - they are sometimes useful in a home situation, for a short duration, when a family member is ill. But in most cases, they are unnecessary. So ironically, antibacterial soaps usually do more harm than good. They ultimately promote antibiotic-resistant strains of germs. In addition, as the antibacterial soaps are auto-inoculated into the eyes and nose, their chemicals cause stress on the immune system.

So what to use?
‘Living Green’ products are formulated for the purpose of promoting better health. They not only remove harmful substances, but also strengthen the skin‘s disinfecting abilities by not stripping the skin of its natural lipids and oils. Quite on the contrary, they maintain those lipids and oils, which serve to protect the skin and, therefore, the body. And since the immune system easily recognizes natural ingredients, the body will not trigger irritating allergic reactions in defence.

We also have a ‘Pro-odorant’ which is basically a citrus/floral water blended with witch hazel acting as an astringent – this will reduce perspiration without inhibiting lymph gland drainage which is vital & necessary for the release of toxins from the body.

Unfortunately there is going to be an “adaptation stage” of about 3weeks until the armpits start cooperating and the self-consciousness starts to abate. I feel this is a small amount to pay and will be more than worth the effort as you start to appreciate the true ‘circle-of-scent’ you now exude, and the attractiveness of a natural pheromonal experience you will start to embrace.

Remember we are not designed to become ill, “Smell” nor have our teeth fall out. We are, however, led to believe that this process of illness and disease whilst unfortunate is unavoidable. This is not true! We can live a long and healthy life without illness and disease, without pain and suffering, but only if we know how we can provide the body with the ‘tools’ that are missing in our present day environment.

So what can I do?
The most simple would be to make a few lifestyle changes. Less meat, less alcohol, less synthetic chemicals would inevitably be the order of the day – to this I must surely add less chlorine, fluoride & heavy metals in the water, as well as less petrochemical waste from refineries continuously cascading down on us from above. Only with the realisation that clean running water, rainwater and sunshine is not a luxury that can be continually sacrificed for the matter of convenience - and that a holistic lifestyle means just that, a consideration for the “whole”.

It is reasonable then to expect that with a ‘True’ understanding of nature and the ‘body basic’ we will have a similar effect on our surroundings resulting in not only longevity for us, but our environment too- and perhaps then we will finally, truly understand the ‘Sweet Smell of Success’.

Special thanks to the following for their input and contributing content.

Prof Tim Jacobs
David Davies

Browse our website further find out about health products that employ the sense of smell to improve our lives.

Need to clean the air, your skin or surfaces around you? Then click here. 

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By
R. Davies

The following article was written by Richard Davies, creator of the Living Green Range. This two-part article explores the radical effects that the olfactory world (our most ancient sense) has on modern man.

Until recently I had been working on a theory that the persona of an individual was / is being masked by synthetic "fragrance" leading to an inevitable breakdown of the bond between two people - even groups for that matter - after the true “scent-of-self” has been recognised.

I now realise that the research in this area has already advanced to a point where the layman (me) can hardly comprehend the psychological and even physiological change that a 'simple' odour can effect.

I think we all know that the chemicals detected by our sensory systems need to have certain properties. For instance, odour molecules must be small & light enough to be able to reach the nose and then dissolve in the mucus. This tells us that smell, unlike taste, can signal over long distances (an early warning device). We appear to have an innate ability to detect bad, aversive smells. One-day old babies give facial expressions that indicate rejection when given fish or rotten egg odour.

There are suggestions that smell can influence mood, memory, emotions, mate choice, the immune system and the endocrine system (skin & hormones). We can also communicate by smell - without knowing it. In fact the sense of smell could be said to be at the mind-body interface.

Fragrance manufacturers have for many years been trying to demonstrate that certain smells are relaxing. There are companies that market perfumes with claims that they do relax you. The problem is complicated by the many things that can affect psychological state.

The following excerpt taken from: Psychophysical evaluation of responses to pleasant and mal-odour stimulation in human subjects; adaptation, dose response and gender differences. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 48, 67-80

Good vs. bad smells
“Nature seems to have arranged that once we have taken in the smell information conveyed by a bad smell, we either act (avoidance) or, if we assess that it is safe for the moment, we switch off. As soon as the level of bad smell changes we are aware of it again. This doesn't happen with good smells, emphasizing the point that good smells have little biological significance - at least in terms of survival. Tell that to the perfume manufacturers”.

There are also other effects that can be measured under certain circumstances.

Smell of fear
Dogs and horses can smell fear in humans. Recent work by Denise Chen has demonstrated the ability of underarm odour to influence mood in others. Karl Grammer, in Vienna, has recently demonstrated that the smell of fear can be detected (by women) in the armpit secretions of people who watched a terrifying film .The implication of this work is that a chemical signal is secreted in sweat which communicates the emotion – ants are already known to communicate in this way.

We seem to possess the ability to secrete compounds that can relay information about our mood to another person. Can we prove this more directly by experiment? If we know what these compounds are can they be used to alter mood?

Therapy using smell memory
If we smell (or taste something) before a negative experience, that smell (or taste) is linked to that experience. The memory is very robust. This can be a problem for unpleasant medical treatments, or surgery when the last meal is often associated with the pain or trauma. But this very effect could, in the future, be put to therapeutic advantage; if smell were to be associated with a positive, healing treatment then the smell itself can substitute for the treatment once the link has been reinforced. It works in rats!

Some very interesting research was published recently - insulin was injected into healthy male volunteers once a day for four days and their blood glucose was measured (it fell). At the same time, they were exposed to a smell. On the fifth day they were just given the smell, and, their blood glucose fell (Stockhorst & Gritzmann, (1999) Psychosomatic Medicine 61, 424-435).

Smell and mate choice
Recent work from Martha McClintock's lab in Chicago shows that women are able to detect minute differences in male immunotype by smell. Immunotype is conferred by HLA alleles, the genes that confer immunity in humans and determines our individual smell. We tend to prefer smell of people who have different HLA alleles to our own. This would mean the offspring of such a match would confer immune advantage - more different HLA alleles would be passed on to the kids giving them a greater degree of immunity. We tend to be repelled by people whose immunotype (HLA alleles) is similar to our own. It looks like we choose our partner on the basis of smell (Wedekind et al., 1997) - well it would be one factor anyway. So, why do we spend so much time, and money, disguising it?

My opinion is that the wearing of synthetic "deodorants" Is one of the causes of constant and increasingly mismatched partners in both business and/or romantic engagement.

Also, I think it worth mentioning that the alarming increase in breast cancer amongst women has for years been, and still is “deodorants” - they are being implicated as one of the main causes to toxic invasion of fatty tissue.

Special thanks to the following for their input and contributing content.

Prof Tim Jacobs
David Davies

Browse our website further find out about health products that employ the sense of smell to improve our lives.

Click here if you need to purify your air 

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