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  • copharynx (was qoph@octodon)copharynx@sfba.social
    Oct 20, 2025, 11:44 PM

    2/3
    From the study: "Decades of research have found that verified olfactory dysfunction is a strong early factor associated with neurodegenerative disease, often preceding diagnosis by years.14 Cognition and olfactory function are intricately linked. The olfactory system is closely connected to brain areas involved in memory, emotion, and decision-making."

    And if future cognitive deterioration isn't a strong enough motivating factor, there can be immediate & day-to-day quality of life effects, according to AbScent, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people connect about and recover from loss/deterioration of smell . . .

    jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman

    #CovidIsNotOver

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  • copharynx (was qoph@octodon)copharynx@sfba.social
    Oct 20, 2025, 11:54 PM

    3/3
    Chrissi Kelly, AbScent: "[Smell] just doesn't get the credit it deserves as a bellwether for human health . . . Our sense of smell is completely bound up with our sense of self. . . . Imagine all the things that you do to soothe yourself when something goes wrong. Cup of tea, bubble bath, scented candle . . . If you want to make yourself feel better, it will almost always involve some sort of olfactory experience . . . People who lose their sense of smell show a reduction in olfactory bulb volume, & . . . once messages stop going into the olfactory bulb & the olfactory bulb starts to lose its volume, . . . depression sets in. It doesn't set in immediately. What sets in immediately is the anxiety. [Good news is, the] brain response to a reduction in the signals that are sent to the olfactory bulb can be counteracted"

    buzzsprout.com/1835170/episode (fyi, I don't recommend this Long Covid Podcast whole-heartedly, due to some subtly antivax guests. But this episode is good)

    abscent.org.uk/about-smell-los

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