Olfactory rehabilitation in brief
If you have lost your sense of taste or smell for two weeks or longer, we recommend starting smell training. Olfactory training means actively smelling the same scents regularly every day, throughout the training period.
Scientific studies have shown that exercise is easy and safe, without significant side effects, and anyone can exercise. The purpose of olfactory training is to rehabilitate the sense of smell, whereby strong scents stimulate the olfactory part of the brain.
Olfactory training helps the brain to recognize different smells again. The goal of the training is to help the brain recover based on neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to reorganize itself to compensate for a change or injury.
Several studies have shown that even short-term structured training with selected scents can increase the sensitivity of the sense of smell.
Starting olfactory training during the first 12 months, when the sense of smell is weakened, increases the recovery rate. We recommend practicing all the steps, because the process of improving the ability to smell takes a long time and requires long-term practice. The ability to smell can develop better even 2-3 years after the loss of the ability to smell.
