Health
In patients with depression, familiar scents could help trigger happy memories, study finds: ‘Break the cycle’
A familiar scent could help individuals with depression recall memories more easily than verbal cues, a recent study published in JAMA Network Open noted.
For people with major depressive disorder (MDD), a familiar smell might help them recall autobiographical memories and potentially help with mental health treatment, according to a group of researchers and social workers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Depression has been linked to issues with short-term memory, according to Healthline.
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“The main takeaway from the study is that individuals with depression do have specific memories and positive memories, but they just have trouble accessing them,” study co-author Dr. Kymberly Young, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, told Fox News Digital.
“By using odors, we can help them access these memories.”
A familiar scent could help individuals with depression recall memories more easily than verbal cues, according to a recent study. (iStock)
The findings suggest that using familiar scents in clinical settings could help to stop negative thought patterns and expedite healing, according to the report.
“Being able to access specific memories is important for problem-solving and emotion regulation — if we can help individuals with depression to access specific memories, they should be able to use them when needed and improve their quality of life,” Young said.
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In healthy individuals, scents could trigger memories that feel vivid and “real” — likely because they engage the part of the brain called the amygdala, which plays a role in processing memory and emotional responses, according to a press release from the university.
“Memories accessed by a familiar scent tend to be very vivid, with a more intense feeling of being ‘real,’ likely due at least in part to the engagement of emotions via the amygdala,” Dr. Krystine Batcho, PhD, a licensed psychologist ad professor at Le Moyne University in Syracuse, New York, explained to Fox News Digital.
Batcho was not involved with the study.
Memories cued by scents were more specific than the ones sparked by verbal cues, the investigators found in a new study. (iStock)
As Young told Fox News Digital, anyone could use scents as a means of recalling vivid and specific memories.
“Sit with an odor and really focus on the memory and try to relive it,” Young suggested.
“Practice recalling these types of memories so that when you need to recall one in daily life — for things like problem-solving and emotion regulation — you will easily be able to do so.”
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In the study, the team of researchers looked at 32 individuals between 18 and 55 years of age who had a diagnosis of MDD.
The participants were given 12 samples of scents in opaque glass jars. They were then asked to recall a specific memory for each of 12 different words.
Each person rated the memory as positive or negative, and also rated the level of arousal and vividness. The individuals also indicated whether they thought of the memory often or not until that particular moment, according to the study.
Recalling vivid and specific memories using odors could theoretically be used by anyone to improve their memory, a researcher told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Memories cued by odors were more specific than the ones sparked by verbal cues, the investigators found.
Participants also tended to recall more positive memories and fewer negative ones, and they rated these memories as more arousing and vivid when using odor cues compared to verbal cues.
“This study just shows that odors are effective at cuing memories when words are not,” Young said.
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Although the investigators did not measure depressive symptoms nor expect them to change in this short study, Young noted that improving memory recall should boost problem-solving and emotion regulation and might help to alleviate depression.
“This is a future direction for this work, now that we know smells are such effective cues in these patients,” he told Fox News Digital.
Improving memory recall should improve problem-solving and emotion regulation and might improve depression, an expert said. (iStock)
Batcho, the psychologist from Le Moyne University, noted that fragrance is an especially powerful trigger for retrieving autobiographical memories.
“While verbal material is also able to retrieve memories, words function at a higher, more abstract level than sensory stimuli,” she told Fox News Digital. “Depression can trap a person in a counterproductive cycle of sadness by triggering sad memories.”
“Reliving the best times can help break the depression cycle and begin to restore more positive thoughts and feelings.”
Certain types of memories are likely to be more beneficial in alleviating depression, the expert said.
“Reliving the best times can help break the depression cycle and begin to restore more positive thoughts and feelings,” Batcho said.
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“Nostalgic memories have been shown to elevate mood, buffer anxiety, counteract loneliness and strengthen social connectedness,” she went on. “Fragrances associated with positive past experiences would be the most effective in retrieving nostalgic memories.”
Specific fragrances are often associated with people, places or special occasions that bring joy, according to the expert.
“Our mother’s favorite perfume, the fragrance of flowers in the garden where we fell in love, or the aroma of holiday foods can revive the positive feelings we once enjoyed,” she said.
“It can be hard for people who are suffering from depression to remember things other than sad memories,” a psychologist told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Dr. Nancy Frye, PhD, a professor of psychology at Long Island University in Brookville, New York, who was not involved with the study, commented on the significance of the findings.
“It can be hard for people who are suffering from depression to remember things other than sad memories,” she told Fox News Digital.
“We’re better able to remember things that match the mood we’re currently in, according to the mood-congruent memory effect,” Frye said. “So it’s easier to remember happy memories when we’re happy, and it’s easier to remember sad memories when we’re sad.”
“This research gives a promising direction to look in to help people with depression.”
Based on this initial study, the researchers aim to complete larger studies with healthy control groups to further investigate the link between scents and memories in those with depression.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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