Influence of room fragrance on attention, anxiety and mood

Abstract

With a special focus on the potential benefits of widely used room scents, the aim of the present blinded study was to investigate attention, anxiety and mood in a large group of healthy people during exposure to various pleasant odours compared with the same situation in a non‐odourous environment. A psychological test battery (d2 test of attention, State‐Trait‐Anxiety‐Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory and Multidimensional Mood State Questionnaire) was applied to 200 normosmic subjects, placed in rooms with four different room fragrance conditions (rose odour; grapefruit odour; a combination of orange, lime and lemon odour; and a odourless control). After exposure, subjects were asked to rate occurrence and severity of heart problems (tachycardia/palpitations), headaches or breathing problems. Results revealed no significant effects of room fragrance on attention, anxiety and mood. Exposure to odours seemed to affect men and women differentially with men presenting unfavourable results in rose‐fragranced rooms whereas they seemed positively affected by the smell of grapefruit. However, these effects could only be observed when no corrections for multiple comparisons were applied. Exposure to the fragrances was not associated with a higher incidence of physical symptoms. These results suggest that the grapefruit odour may be a more suitable room fragrance for mixed‐gender groups than rose odour to reduce anxiety and to improve attention and mood. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The gender variation on the electroencephalographic activity in response to the exposure of black pepper essential oil from Kampong Cham, Cambodia

“…According to our previous studies, women highly responded well to aroma components than men. 17,19,21,38,39 In contrast, men are highly sensitive to black pepper essential oil than women in this study.…”

“…Previous studies also demonstrated that the gender plays a key role in the odor perception and EEG activity. Recently, Haehner et al investigated attention, anxiety, and mood in a total of 200 healthy participants (100 men and 100 women) during the exposure to rose, grapefruit, and a mixture of citrus fragrance (orange, lime, and lemon). Men and women responded differently during the exposure of these fragrances.…”

Effects of Tangerine Essential Oil on Brain Waves, Moods, and Sleep Onset Latency

“…In other studies, corpus collosum of females is larger than males; in addition, the development of cerebral lateralization of females is also faster than males [ 27 , 28 ]. Furthermore, the other study showed that females responded to the molecules of the essential oil more than male did, and Haehner et al also revealed that responses of females and males to grapefruit or a combination of orange, lime and lemon fragrances are different [ 29 , 30 ]. In addition, sex-related performance can be explained by reproductive hormone influences on odor perception.…”

Gender Differences in Electroencephalographic Activity in Response to the Earthy Odorants Geosmin and 2-Methylisoborneol

“…Radulescu and Mujica-Parodi [35] stated that women have a better olfactory sensation than men in many species and differences in their sensitivity may be based on biological meanings. Recently, Haehner et al [36] reported that women easily identified different fragrances (orange, lime, and lemon) and changed their behavior accordingly when compared to men. In our previous studies, isomeric aroma components ((+)-limonene and terpinolene), essential oils from Abies koreana twigs, and Angelica gigas root showed significantly different EEG activity according to gender.…”