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Smell Training for Brain Health?
Aging Well | Last Active: Sep 18 6:26am | Replies (43)Comment receiving replies
I am a 70-year-old very active woman who was unable to smell anything for the past 7 years (this occurred before Covid). I made an appointment with 2 different ENT's in that time span, and both did an exam and ran tests to determine the cause of my inability to smell. Both made the determination that it was just age-related.
I tried a limited form of olfactory stimulation a few years ago, but didn't stick with it, so didn't have results. In my search for things that might improve my sense of smell, I happened across the podcast on YouTube, "How Scents Can improve Memory, Autism, and Depression," by Dr. Michael Leon. After watching it and investigating further, I decided to try olfactory stimulation again, not only to improve my ability to smell, but also to see if it improved my foggy brain function and slightly failing memory. I purchased a few different kits of the Moxe Essential Oil Smell Therapy scent tubes on Amazon. The podcast and additional research emphasized using a variety of pleasant scents on a regular basis because the regenerated neurons die off after a few days, so I began sniffing the scent tubes as often as possible--while doing Wordle in the morning, while reading, and while watching TV in the evening. I kept a journal and began olfac. stim. on Oct. 27, 2025 and could not smell ANY of the scents. By November 5, 2025 (9 days later, I was able to smell scents, not only in the scent tubes, but also in the environment (shampoo, some cooking scents, etc.). It was truly surprising just how much I could smell! I also started to see a difference in my memory recall and felt that a sort of fog lifted, as well.
It is now March 2, 2026 and I am rather tired of being tied to sniffing the scent tubes, so I'm going to place an order for the Memory Air machine, developed by Dr. Leon, which dispenses 40 scents into the air over a period of 5 hours while I sleep. It is a rather costly device ($799 and $39 monthly fee for replacement scent belts), but if it continues to allow me to smell things and to have improved cognition, it will be worth every penny!
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@ggcrow
4/3/26 Update on Memory Air olfactory stimulation machine to improve and maintain my sense of smell and to improve my husband’s and my memory abilities:
The machine arrived within 2 weeks of placing the order and it was extremely easy to connect and install the scent belts. It is SUPER quiet (I had to put my hand in front of the opening to make sure it was on), and it has a faint light that is barely noticeable.
My husband, who is 9 years my senior, said that he wanted to try it, too, so I've positioned it in an elevated position on a table at the foot of our bed so that the air/scent stream flows between us.
I stopped using the hand-held scents I had purchased from Amazon because I wanted to know if this device was as effective, and it has been! When I had previously stopped using the hand-held scents, I lost my sense of smell within a few to several days, but with this device, my sense of smell has not only remained constant, but I am smelling things more intensely and a greater variety of scents. I continue to feel very clear-minded and, as I said before, my ability to recall things has been so much better since I started the scent training.
My husband and I both took the Memory Air on-line memory test (recalling in any order 15 words presented 5 times) and will test again in 3 months.
I can't begin to explain the joy I find in being able to smell again! After smelling absolutely nothing for the past 7 years, it feels like such a precious gift! And more importantly, this olfactory stimulation has been proven to reduce inflammation, which, according to Dr. Michael Leon's research, is associated with so many diseases, illnesses, and memory loss. I am especially anxious to see if there are any improvements with my husband’s recall ability when he retests. Since I tested several months after I had been doing the olfactory stimulation with the scent sticks, I wouldn’t expect much improvement in my own recall, but I do know that I no longer struggle to remember things as I had before beginning olfactory stimulation.