De-stressing Through Coffee’s Aroma
Waking up to the sweet smell of coffee is pure bliss for coffee lovers or even to the occasional coffee drinker, but did you know that studies have shown that coffee aroma can actually lower stress? Researchers at Seoul National University in South Korea and colleagues from Germany and Japan now suggests the scent of coffee after a particularly nerve-racking day, could be an effective stress reliever.
The scientist who conducted the studies wanted to find out what the scent of freshly roasted and ground coffee beans does to a stressed out and sleep deprived brain. The studies used 30 rats divided into two main groups: those who were exposed to the smell of roasted coffee beans for 24 hours and those who weren’t. After the experiment, the results showed that the coffee smell did affect the rat brains, the 13 genes that showed various levels of activity due to the stress of staying awake all night had different responses at the molecular level when the stress was experienced while the rats were in a room filled with the smell of coffee. Antioxidants were release from the cells of the latter group which were activated by the genes responsible for protecting the cells from damage caused by stress.
With this experiment, it would seem that the smell of coffee does more than just lure people into coffee shops. But should students who need to stay up all night and study rush to the nearest 24 hour coffee shop and smell the aroma can have the same effect as drinking a cuppa? Further studies are needed to answer that question.
