Sense of smell

[jitteryladybug.livejournal.com]

Have any of you noticed that your sense of smell is greater or less sensitive depending on when you are in your cycle? Here's a snippet of an article I read for my Sensory Analysis class:

"Women have been found, on average, to possess a keener sense of smell than men, and this superiority has been shown to exist from the age of 4. Moreover, women retain their superior ability longer than men. Some studies have also shown that odor detection varies with the menstrual cycle, with maximum sensitivity at the time of ovulation and the lowest sensitivity during a woman's period."

From the article
"Identification of odors of edible and non-edible stimuli as affected by age and gender", 2008, Behavior Research Methods, 40(3):752-759

for those of you who enjoy source information. :)

I have found that my sense of smell varies and I seem to be more sensitive to certain smells at different times, but haven't correllated it to my estrous cycle. I thought it was interesting though, and thought I'd share. Thoughts or personal experiences greatly appreciated as comments.

Comments

[catiekat.livejournal.com]

omg, I love this kinda stuff. it's soooo fascinating! thanks for posting it!!

[jitteryladybug.livejournal.com]

your welcome! If you can access online article databases I recommend that article- in the introduction they also talk about how most women have a keener sense of smell on their left side, and women's brains (when they sense smells) use the left side of their brain predominantly, which they decided was the explanation of why women are slightly better at naming a smell- identifying it with the language parts of the left side of the brain. they were referencing a different study then, but I thought it was awesome and I kind of want to hunt down the source material for that citation, actually.

thanks for geeking out with me! :)