Cognitive loss, or dementia, is a growing problem in our society. There is a great need to develop simple, effective and domestic treatments. In order to improve cognitive ability in healthy, older adults, especially at night, olfactory enrichment has taken its place in the scientific lens as a research.
Male and female adults aged 60-85 years were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to an Scent Enrichment or Control Group. Individuals in the enriched group were exposed to 7 different scents per week for 2 hours using a scent diffuser. Individuals in the control group also had the same experience with minimal amounts of fragrance substance. Neuropsychological assessments and fMRI scans were performed at the beginning of the study and 6 months later.
A 226% improvement was observed in the scent-enriched group compared to the control group on the Auditory-Verbal Learning Test. At the end of the evaluations, good functionality was observed in the Left Fasciculus of the brain.
Clinical Psychologist Selin Erekli ,''Minimum olfactory enrichment applied at night resulted in improvements in both cognitive and neural functionality. Therefore, olfactory enrichment may provide an effective and low-effort pathway to improved brain health.”