In a study that followed more than 2,000 community-dwelling older adults over eight years, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have significant new evidence of a link between decreased sense of smell and risk of developing late-life depression.
Their findings, published June 26 in Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, do not demonstrate that loss of smell causes depression, but suggests that it may serve as a potent indicator of overall health and well-being.
— Read more in A Fading Sense of Smell: New Predictor of Late-Life Depression? at Neuroscience News.
I’ve not read the article yet,but the concept makes total sense.So much of our joy in life is dependant on our senses;the smell and taste of a delectable 10-course dinner,hearing a beautiful piece of music,smelling a perfume that gives instant joy or triggers smile-inducing memories…
If I think about my own angst about getting older,the added loss of your essential senses can only make it worse:depression.
Yes, all of this is true.
Still wonder if it doesn’t all go at once…your brain is not working well enough to smell, which we know is also a possible early sign of dementia, so perhaps your brain is also not working well in other ways too.