SMOKING affects Your Sense of Smell and can cause dangers IN YOUR HOME !!

April 6th, 2011

A very interesting topic came up recently in my workplace. The relationship of smoking and sense of smell. The fact is a smoker's sense of smell is very inferior, "broken" or impaired. They don't smell or pick up odors like a non-smoker. So if you want to know "do you smell something in here," don't ask a smoker? Ask somebody whose smell is working properly. A Smoker ASKING another smoker "can you smell anything peculiar in here, I can't" is like "the blind asking the blind "do you see that over that, because I sure don't." The comparison of a smokers' sense of smell to a non-smokers' is like when people who have no animals walk into a house that has a dog, they immediately smell it but the people living there don't notice it at all. Same principle!

A few years ago, I went to list a property for an elderly woman who was also a big smoker. The minute I entered her property, I could smell gas strongly and I told her "you have a gas leak." She couldn't smell a thing. The gas co. came out and told her her the pilot light on her stove (which was so old, you couldn't even order parts for it anymore) and her hotwater heater, both, were leaking, substantially and they turned the gas off completely. They told her they would not turn it back on until these items were replaced. They also said it was a wonder she hadn't blown herself up smoking the way she did, combined with the gas leak.. So having your "sense of smell" is very important. If the house caught on fire (while you and your family were asleep), it could burn down before you even smelled the smoke! So smoking can kill you in a number of ways besides the ones we hear about the most. Having a sense of smell protects us in so many ways.

The National Geographic Smell Survey indicated that, of the people polled, smokers rated the intensity of androstenone, cloves, and gas as weaker than those of nonsmokers, while banana and musk were perceived as stronger by smokers. However, smokers and nonsmokers did not differ in their detection of the rose scent. Additionally, smokers were less confident in their own ability to detect odors. As expected, smokers responses to the survey demonstrated a lowered sensitivity to odor quality. Smokers found the odors rated as unpleasant by nonsmokers to be less offensive, and indicated a decreased appreciation of the pleasant odors, as well. (Gilbert and Wysocki, 1987).

In an additional study conducted at the University of Indiana, 100 students were asked to use their noses to locate their own shirts from an assortment of shirts. Seventy-four of the 100 students were able to correctly identify their own shirts by scent alone. However, of participants that smoked more than ten cigarettes per day, almost half were unable to correctly identify their own shirts (Lord and Kasprazak, 1989).

impaired sense of smell

the bottom line

If you smoke cigarettes, your sense of smell may not be as good as it should be. Smokers have more trouble identifying odors than nonsmokers do, and about twice as many smokers as nonsmokers have a reduced sense of smell. Smoking affects the sense of smell in both young people and older ones.

The sense of smell is more important than you may realize. Much of the flavor of food actually comes from its smell, rather than its taste. People who can't smell don't enjoy their food as much as other people do. The sense of smell is also important for safety. For example, people with an impaired sense of smell would be less able to detect the odor that is added to natural gas (the kind of gas used in gas stoves) to alert people to gas leaks.

quitting

Fortunately, though, the sense of smell may improve after a person quits smoking.

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Disclaimer : The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Houston Association of REALTORS®

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Mary Ann Lipsey