The science, nostalgia, and nervous system connection behind the smells we never forget
I’ve been noticing lately how certain smells can completely transport you somewhere else before you even realize what’s happening. When I go on my walks there’s this one house I keep walking past and the flowers outside smell exactly like a funeral home. Every single time I walk by it, I immediately feel heavy, the flowers are beautiful, the sun is usually out, everything around me is calm, but the smell instantly shifts something in me. My brain goes somewhere sad, then a few houses down there’s another house and their flowers smell completely different and remind me of the hotel we always stayed at when we used to go to Hawaii.
Then the other night I dropped my youngest off at a friend’s house and their neighborhood pool was being cleaned. The chlorine smell hit me and I swear for a second I was eight years old again. I could instantly picture those summers where you stayed at the pool literally all day until your fingers wrinkled, your hair felt crunchy from chlorine, and you came home completely exhausted in the best possible way. I could almost feel that specific kind of summer tiredness again.
It’s wild how our brains do that. One smell and suddenly you’re standing inside another version of your life. There’s actually real science behind why this happens. Smell is deeply connected to memory, emotion, and the nervous system because of how the olfactory system is wired in the brain. Unlike our other senses, smell has a very direct connection to the amygdala and hippocampus, the parts of the brain involved in emotional processing, memory, and stress responses.
That’s why smells can feel so immediate emotionally. The smell happens first, then the feeling, then the memory, researchers have also found that memories triggered by smell are more vivid and emotional than memories triggered by photos or words. I think most of us already know this without needing a study to tell us.
A smell can remind you of someone you loved, a childhood home, a season of life, a heartbreak, maybe even a version of yourself you forgot about, and this is where it gets really interesting when it comes to the nervous system. Our nervous systems are constantly scanning for cues of safety and familiarity, not just danger. So when we smell something tied to comfort, childhood, joy, love, or calm memories, the body can actually soften physiologically. The nervous system recognizes familiarity.
That’s why certain scents are used in grounding practices, meditation, therapy, and calming rituals. Think of smells like, lavender, ocean air, sunscreen, fresh cut grass (Gap actually used to have a scent called grass when I was in high school,) rain, your grandma’s house, your parents house, grandmother’s perfume, books or even the library, bonfire smoke, chlorine from the pool. These smells become emotional anchors.
At the same time, certain smells can bring up heaviness too. Grief, anxiety, sadness, stress. So that funeral home flower smell I keep walking past is probably tied to emotional memories my brain stored years ago without me even realizing it consciously. Your nervous system does not only respond to what is happening right now, it also responds to what your brain associates with safety, stress, grief, comfort, or love from the past.
I think this might be part of why walking has felt so grounding to me lately. I have been going on silent walks for at least 20 minutes then if I decide to listen to a podcast or something after the 20 minutes, I will and slowing down enough to notice the world around me again has made me feel more connected to myself.
Memories keep popping up non stop, gratitude, time passing too fast, motherhood, childhood and just basically life moving way too fast for me, especially lately as a mom with teenagers. One minute you’re decorating a nursery and craving root beer floats and the next you’re standing outside a neighborhood pool remembering your own childhood while your kids are off living theirs.
I keep wondering now what smells my girls will carry with them one day. Maybe chlorine will remind them of summers, maybe essential oils will remind them of home, maybe gasoline will remind them of the boat dock and the marina haha, maybe root beer floats will bring back memories they don’t even realize they’re creating right now.
It’s beautiful when you think about it, how memories stay inside us, waiting for one familiar smell to bring them back and spark that memory up.
Nikki Lanigan
Nikki Lanigan is a yoga, HIIT, and Barre instructor, she is also a Holistic Health Coach through Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Nikki is trained in Yoga Shred, Yoga Psychology, meditation, chakra balancing, and EFT/Tapping. She has done trainings with Sadie Nardini and Ashley Turner. She got her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2017 at the Carrie Treister School Of Yoga. Nikki takes a holistic view of health, helping her students and clients reach a place of self-love not just through movement, but with mindset and lifestyle guidance as well. Nikki is also show prep writer for The McVay Media Show Prep and host of the podcast Fit, Fun, and Frazzled. Connect with Nikki on Instagram. www.instagram.com/nikkilanigan.yogaandwellness www.instagram.com/fitfunandfrazzledpodcast
