The Reasons Why Strong Perfumes Give You A Headache
More than 1 trillion odours are detectable by humans. However, no two people will respond to a smell in exactly the same manner. While most people would agree that some odours, like paint thinner or rotten food, are unpleasant, our responses to other sorts of smells can be much more subjective.
Consider perfume. The aroma of a powerful, floral perfume may be heavenly to one person while giving them a headache to another. Here are the three most frequent explanations for why people may experience a bodily reaction to strong odours.
1. Emotions
Only smell connects directly to our emotional system among all of our senses. It is believed that the reason for this connection is that scent developed before all of our other senses. This means that we sense smell in conjunction with all of our memories of that smell, including how it makes us feel right now, our prior memories, and the odour compounds that are delivered to us.
Let's imagine you smell something that brings back a bad memory. Maybe it's the scent of hospital cleaning supplies or the perfume your ex wore. Perhaps the fragrance of hospital cleaning products or the perfume your ex wore is to blame.
Your body's response to stress, anxiety, or danger is known as the fight-or-flight stress response. Numerous physical changes are brought on by it, the majority of which are brought on by the brain going into high alert. Tension in the head and neck region might be one of the earliest signs of a fight or flight response. Vasodilation, or expansion of the blood arteries, is what causes this, allowing more blood to be directed to the brain and other areas of the body that require it.
Vasodilation also causes sensory receptors in the blood vessels to light up, and if the blood vessels in the head and neck are the ones doing the widening, we experience this as headache discomfort.
It depends on a variety of experiences and is highly personal how we feel when we smell specific things. We could not even be aware of smelling certain odours or being aware of how they make us feel when we do. However, if you only only experience headaches when you smell a particular perfume, it may be because you have a bad relationship with it.
2. Nasal Issues
Our sinuses can occasionally become irritated by the substances, known as odorants, that turn on the scent signals in our brains. Some of the most popular odorants that irritate people include smoke, perfume, and chlorine.
Four separate, air-filled cavities in the face's bones make up our sinuses. Each has a mucus-secreting membrane lining it. Particles and insects that enter through our mouths and nostrils are caught by the mucus. But when the body produces more and more mucus to eliminate these entrapped contaminants or possible allergens, allergy-like symptoms develop. Our immune system then mobilises to assist us, which leads to vasodilation and inflammation. For some people, a headache is the end effect.
This pathway recognises a threat that can only be identified by the immune system, and when it is activated, it results in inflammation. This may also result in a headache. There is evidence that certain cleaning products, cigarette smoke, and formaldehyde all have direct effects on the trigeminal pathway.
3. Aversion to smells
Osmophobia is the term for a dislike of smells. Osmophobia is uncommon on its own, although it frequently coexists with chronic headaches in those who experience it.
Osmophobia is particularly common in those who have migraines. Some studies have even suggested that 20% of migraine sufferers may actually experience a migraine attack after being exposed to strong odours for two hours or longer. Cigarette smoke, perfumes, car exhaust and cleaning products are some of the most common triggering scents.
Someone who suffers from migraines may have heightened sensitivity to various sensory stimuli in their daily lives. However, individuals may become even more sensitive to some stimuli, such as odours, during the prodrome phase (the first of four separate migraine phases, which may occur a few days to hours before the headache attack).
Many migraine sufferers feel distinct symptoms that a migraine is coming during the podrome phase - such a yawning more and seeking certain foods. Smells that wouldn’t typically annoy you may also upset you profoundly. Additionally, you could detect phantom odours, or nonexistent smells. A burning smell is the most typical phantom odour that people describe smelling before getting a migraine.
The podrome phase of a migraine sometimes includes warning indicators for sufferers, such as increased yawning and food cravings. Even smells that normally wouldn't annoy you could cause you great distress. Additionally, you could detect phantom odours, or nonexistent smells. A burning smell is the most typical phantom odour that people describe smelling before getting a migraine. Therefore, even though smell isn't the migraine trigger in this case, it can be an indication of a coming headache.
Science hasn't yet developed a reliable workaround for this. Therefore, it would be wise to stay as far away from specific scents as you can if you have a tendency to develop headaches from them (for whatever reason). However, since we can't always avoid triggers, the best strategy to treat headaches when they do happen may be to get some fresh air and take painkillers.
