Sit up or lie down to smell the roses
7 February 2006
by Carina
Lee
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Sitting up increases a person's sensitivity to rose odour as opposed to lying down. This is according to a study conducted by a team of researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute with findings being published in the journal, Chemical Senses. After putting patients to a smell test by allowing them to sniff sixteen varying concentrations of rose odour in different body positions, researchers came to the conclusion that a person's body position affects the human sense of smell and lying down affects the body's senses in a negative manner. Dr. Johan Lundstrom is a postdoctoral fellow with the research group who made the initial discovery. He explains "There is a clear difference in olfactory sensitivity depending on the body position of the subjects." Even though this discovery was made, scientists are still unsure of this physiological variation, although some suggest that it could be due an increase of bodily fluid circulating throughout the brain. |
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Related Links
Original press release from Montreal Neurological Institute
Nature
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