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"
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1835170/episodes/11172179 (fyi, I don't recommend this Long Covid Podcast whole-heartedly, due to some subtly antivax guests. But this episode is good)