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Aphrodisiac Foods? Sure, But Don’t Ignore The Power Of Scent, Too!Aphrodisiac foods have long held pride of place in sexual folklore. We’ve all heard that what we eat can stir up sexual desire. Oysters, anyone? As long as 5,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians produced herbal aphrodisiacs to stimulate sexual appetite and prolong performance. Ancient Greeks and Romans wrote about effective aphrodisiacs for men and women in the form of perfumes and massage oils. An aphrodisiac is any substance that enhances the sex drive or feelings of sexual pleasure. Most aphrodisiacs also heighten other aspects of sensory experience such as touch, smell and taste. This enhanced sensory awareness contributes to your arousal and gratification. But if you’re searching for those aphrodisiac foods, don’t ignore the power of scent as part of your search. Your sense of smell is an amazing tool with proven links to memory and emotions. Scientists believe we store odor information in our long-term memory and that odor information has strong connections to emotional memory. The explanation for this may be the olfactory system's proximity to the limbic system (“the seat of emotion”) and the hippocampus (a memory storage and processing area) in the brain. Most people experience this link between memories and emotions when a smell evokes it–like smelling the aroma of a fresh-baked pie and recollecting childhood dinners at your grandmother’s house. You may not even realize why the memory came to you or why you’re experiencing the emotions you’re feeling. But let’s forget grandma for a moment and think of it another way: Let’s say your partner wore a particular scent during a sexual encounter and you both enjoyed an awesome moment of passion. The next time you smell that scent, you might be filled with sexual desire…without even realizing your sense of smell is reminding you of your previous bliss..all you know is, you want it again! That’s the power of scent at work. Your sense of smell guides you, comforts you and even alerts you of danger or attraction to another person. Here are some facts about this unique power: · The average human being can recognize approximately 10,000 different odors. And you can bet some those odors will be aphrodisiac foods! · People recall smells with 65% accuracy after a year, while visual recall of photos drops to about 50% after only three months. · In a Las Vegas casino experiment, the amount of money gambled in a slot machine increased by over 45% when the site was scented with a pleasant aroma. · Except for identical twins, everyone has his or her own unique odor-identity or “smell fingerprint.” Many factors, including genes, skin type, diet, medicine, mood state and even the weather, create this fingerprint. · Our sense of smell is responsible for about 80% of what we taste, again linking aphrodisiac foods with smell. Without it, our sense of taste is limited to sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savoury. We experience all other flavours from smell. · In a consumer test of shampoos, one product that participants ranked last on general performance in an initial test was ranked first in a second test. In the second test, participants said that the shampoo was easier to rinse out, foamed better and left hair more glossy. The only difference between tests one and two? In test two, the shampoo had a different fragrance. · Women are said to have a better sense of smell than men. It’s most strong at ovulation. · As early as three days, a baby can discriminate between a gauze pad worn by its own breast-feeding mother and that worn by another lactating woman. · In one study, 90% of women tested identified their newborns by olfactory cues after only a 10-minute to one hour exposure to their infants. All of the women tested recognized their babies' odor after exposure periods greater than one hour. · Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck won the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system.
Remember that along with aphrodisiac foods, your sense of smell is a powerful tool in your quest for sexual intimacy. Without you even realizing it, a scent worn by your partner can be a strong sexual stimulant, reminding you of great sex you’ve enjoyed, with the promise of more to come. Visit these pages for more information: How To Make Essential Oils And Other Frequently Asked Questions Discover Your SCENTS-U-ALITY… Oil For Massage And Special Scents – Sex Tools That Keep On Giving Return to Sex Toys Home
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