What is olfactory fatigue and how does it work?

The term olfactory fatigue is the temporary inability to smell a specific scent because you are exposed to it for a while. You might recognize this situation. In the morning you are using your favorite perfume. Later that day, a colleague is making a complement on your perfume, but you don’t smell it yourself anymore. Unfortunately, it works the same with unpleasant odors. In case you have pets, you always need to be careful for that.

Olfactory fatigue is preventing that our nerve system gets overloaded by specific odor stimuli, in order for us to be able to smell other things as well.

In fact, it works similar as the feeling of pressure. At a certain point, you don’t feel the pressure of your cloths on your body either. How fast olfactory fatigue sets in differs per person. In the next blog post, you will learn If the smell of coffee beans helps to neutralize scent and if it helps to prevent olfactory fatigue.