Aroma Therapy To Prevent Pikun? Study Calls Wewangian Exposure While Sleeping Can Improve Brain Function

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JAKARTA - To minimize dementia in old age, experts recommend people do regular physical activity, adopt a healthy diet, and adequate sleep. But what if basic pleasure such as kissing fragrances at bedtime can increase your memory? Well, researchers from the University of California, make interesting findings in their latest study.

The study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, reported by Medical Daily, Tuesday, August 8, shows that putting the fragrance in the elderly's bedroom for two hours every night. Makes a significant improvement in their memoryability.

"Indra's smell has a special privilege to connect directly to the brain's memory circuit. All other senses are directed first through thalamus. Everyone has felt how strong the aroma is in reviving memories, even a long time ago," said Michael Yassa, a neurologist and co-author of the study.

The study evaluated 43 participants aged 60 to 85 years without memory disturbances. Each participant is given a diffuser, along with seven different cartridges, with each of them given unique flavored natural oil.

The participants were divided into two groups. One group is given full fragrance cartridges, while the other is half. All participants are asked to put different cartridges into their diffusers every night, and use them for two hours while they sleep.

After six months, people in the full fragrance cartridge group had an increase in cognitive performance by 226 percent compared to the other group. This increase was measured using standard word list tests used to evaluate memory.

Brain depictions show an increase in their neural pathways, which often decline with age. This pathway, known as the left-handed uncinate fasciculus, facilitates communication between the medial temporal lobes and the prefrontal cortex, which is essential for decision-making. Participants also felt an increase in sleep quality.

Previous studies have shown that loss of smell can increase nearly 70 neurological and psychiatric diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,settle, and alcoholism. When people with dementia are inhaling about 40 different odors on two separate occasions each day, they show increased memory and language skills. It also helps them ease depression and raise the sense of smell.

The next step for the team is to evaluate the effects of smell techniques on people with cognitive decrease diagnosis. The researchers believe these findings will pave the way for further exploration into a sense-of-scent-based treatment for memory disorders.