Well, every time I open my bottle of vitamins, I travel all the way back to my kindergarten year. Those little tablets bring to mind a boy I went to school with way back then. Why? Because he always smelled like vitamins. I don’t remember his name, but I clearly remember that. I suspect he took his vitamins right before he entered the school.
I discovered this week that the vitamin scent bringing forth this powerful memory is quite natural. Researchers have discovered that there is a strong connection between smells, emotions and early life experiences. Our sense of smell is connected to the part of the brain that controls memories and emotions, therefore certain scents can instantly trigger distant memories. Like the boy who smelled like vitamins.
Does a particular scent take you back in time or trigger a memory?
So many i couldn't begin to count...same with songs, any that play I will know where I was and how I felt...
ReplyDeletecologne of certain men, I could identify...or musk, or the one who works with his muscles all day long, lol, smell of apple tree brings me right back to childhood, or strawberries, to strawberry pickings, If I continue, I'll never stop...good question though Martha, wow thanks for the memories ;)
Oh yes, songs also bring back to many memories! Some tunes take me back to a specific place at a specific time, and stir up so many emotions, happy and sad. It's amazing what these senses do to us!
DeleteI haven't smelled vitamins but it is true about smell and memory as I have had a smell bring back 50 year old memories like that.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly amazing how far back a single scent can take us!
DeleteYes exactly! Nowadays many malls, businesses, corporate houses are coming up with their signature smell (another way of branding as well). Even certain kind of smell increase the buying behavior of a customer. One example coming to my mind is about the Singapore airlines and their signature scent Nuance.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right, Chirasree! Many businesses are doing that. Another way to make more profit!
DeleteOoh yes! Stale beer, camel cigarettes, hair perms...to name a few right off the top.
ReplyDeleteOh, hair perms! That brings me back to high school. My friends and I used to perm our own hair. Oh boy...LOL....
DeleteI do take a men's daily multivitamin. Have for a few years. Do you remember the Fred Flinstone's Vitamins?? I used to love those as a little boy LOL.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember those vitamins! I used to love them, too. And I liked the show, too; watched every episode more than once.
DeleteTrying to imagine what vitamins smell like?? Could you be more specific? Did he smell sort of mediciny? hahahaha! I have a very sensitive nose but I don't think I have ever identified the smell of vitamins!!
ReplyDeleteYes, that's pretty much what he smelled like...mediciny'; slightly. If you open a bottle of vitamins and take a whiff, that's the scent. Pretty strong!
DeleteThe smell of pencil shavings and pencil erasers takes me right back to primary school.......a big old building that had huge windows and in spring time the teachers used to open them up and in came all that fresh air. Oh the memories! Thanks Martha!
ReplyDeleteLilacs do the same thing for me too.
Pencil shavings! Now that is a smell that stirs up a lot of emotions, and certainly takes me back to primary school, too. It's amazing what these scents will do!
Deletelilacs remind me of my childhood. also when my friends and I would play in the grass all day or walk through the woods, we would smell onions. cheers!!
ReplyDeleteThat is really interesting. I wonder where the onion smell came from.
DeleteI had a health food store for about 16 months ... had to do something for my Mother after my Dad died. She was a 'health food nut' and took at least 30 vitamins daily until the day she died at 96.5. And, I mean until that day. She died in her recliner in the late afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI'm on and off with them but I do know the smell you're referring to. BELIEVe me... lol nothing smelled really except her fish oil capsules. ew ~ now 'they' say and have been saying for eons that it's all hooey. right. like taking 400 pills a day the pharmaceutical companies want you to take. no thank you. ~ don't get me started.... ha
My memories are of fresh cut grass and smelling rain on dry dirt. As a child, I was never inside. well, who was in the 50s.. I loved seeing a dark cloud on a hot summer day ... rain could be seen miles away ~ no hills where I lived ~ I would sit on the front porch with my cat and dog and wait.
ahhhhhh ... I could actually see the first drop hit the dirt. and the smell? oh baruther. Whenever I smell rain, I think of waaaaaay back yonder when the only problem I had was having to come inside and bathe and go to bed. I liked supper time though... ;)
I gotta post this old gospel song ... brings back a lot of memories....
He tells the parrot joke first ... ;)
http://youtu.be/kJC5RXv9a6s
I spent my entire childhood playing outdoors, and I tell you, Carolyn, every time I smell fresh cut grass, rain, wet soil, flowers...I travel all the way back to my young years. All the outdoor smells are associated with my early years because I got so much of them. Kids these days spend too much time indoors with their electronic gadgets. They are really missing out, in my opinion. I had the same type of childhood as you; went in to have supper, and right back out. And then back in to bathe and get ready for bed. Life sure is simple when you're a kid, isn't it? *sigh*
DeleteI am listening to the video as I write this. What a voice on this man! Amazing. Oh, 'come home, it's supper time'...my mom called that out to me when I was a kid, too. What I wouldn't give to go back for a little while and experience that once again.
Now that's a really neat situation and explains a lot of unexplained things!
ReplyDeleteYou bet it does!
DeleteI take a general multivitamin when I think about it.
ReplyDeleteI do the same, but not very often.
DeleteCod liver oil pills ~~ ugh ~~ actually I loved them in Grade 5 ~~ I so remember breaking them between my teeth and savouring the fishy taste ~~ not now though!
ReplyDeleteI've never tried those (I don't think so, anyway), and actually have no idea what they smell like! Now I'm curious!
DeleteMy grandfather was a dairy farmer. The smell of a dairy barn (milk and manure smells) is always associated with warmth, love and laughter. And to this day, driving past a freshly spread field does not bother me. Funny how associations of smells do that to you. Grandma always smelled of freshly baked goodies. Whenever I make pies, I feel closest to her memory. These are smells and memories from almost 50 years ago!
ReplyDeleteI don't think we realize how powerful the sense of smell is, and how it stirs emotions in us and takes us to specific moments in time. We even associate certain smells with people. Whenever I think of my dad, for example, I always think of basil. It was one of his favourite plants in his garden because he loved how it smells.
DeleteI had no idea it's possible to smell those vitamins :) Scents truly are very powerful, it's amazing how they can instantly trigger memories. Certain foods will make me think of my grandmother right away because she used to always cook for us :)
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of grandmas are remembered by food smells! LOL... Especially baked goods :)
DeleteMy most favorite remembered smell is the ocean, where I grew up, in NS, going back in the fall and can't wait for the scent again ....
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing quite like the ocean smell. That is a wonderful scent to experience.
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