Sense of Smell Linked to Body Position

(Montreal) A research team at McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute, led by post-doctoral researcher Johan Lundstrom, has found that a person's sense of smell is more acute when sitting or standing compared to when he/she is reclining.

From GlobeandMail.com:

Scientists at the McGill institute tested 36 healthy men and women for their responses to 16 increasingly strong concentrations of phenyl ethyl alcohol, a chemical that smells like roses. Each subject had the odour wafted under their nostrils both while sitting up and lying down.

It turned out that most (64 per cent) could "smell the roses" much better when upright in a chair; they needed a higher, more odorous concentration to detect the scent when on their backs, Dr. Lundstrom, lead author of the study, said yesterday from Montreal.

Previous studies have shown that being supine can reduce other senses connected to the brain, including hearing and spatial perception. But the Montreal study is the first to find a link between position and sense of smell, said neuropsychologist Marilyn Jones-Gotman, head of the institute's chemical senses laboratory.

There are numerous theories as to why this phenomenon occurs, but more study of the neurological processes is necessary. I am aware that a person's ability to detect odors decreases with advancing age and coupling that fact with these latest findings appear to indicate that an elderly person lying down might not be able to smell anything.

Now, I don't dispute the data nor the conclusions but, for the life of me, I haven't been able to think of many practical applications where one would use the knowledge. It's probably a rare occurrence when someone would do any serious smelling while lying on his/her back. Simply knowing that a person's sense of smell diminishes when supine or prone might come in handy under a unique circumstance.

Even so, I recognize that the knowledge would be of some value as a subject of conversation. After all, it is an interesting neurological quirk. Also, it might be fun to say to your boss, "Frankly, Bob, you could stand to smell better."