By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-10-13 13:58:26 | Word Count: 664
Acid reflux is a monster that is hard for anyone to deal with. Not only is there considerable pain, but it can be triggered by a number of different things. Food, of course, is one of the main triggers for it. The reasons for this are many—varying from greasiness to spiciness in addition to a number of other possible reasons.
However, there is something else to consider. How can smell affect acid reflux—or can it?
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Truthfully, yes, smell can affect acid reflux—although it’s not a common thing. First, acid reflux occurs in people whose stomachs are unable to retain their stomach acid where it should stay—in the stomach. When their acid reflux is triggered, the acid is released into the lower esophagus.
One trigger is stress, of course. However, when someone with acid reflux is in a situation where they are stressed out and smell something that bothers them, they become quite nauseated, and their stomach starts to overreact.
For example, perhaps Joe French suffers from acid reflux, but wants to understand if indeed smell can affect acid reflux. Knowing that he hasn’t been able to stand the smell of rotten eggs since childhood, he willingly goes near the trash cans, having eaten previously. His neighbor had thrown out some rotten eggs earlier in the day, and he wants to see what happens.
After a couple of minutes, Joe gets a whiff of the rotten eggs, and his stomach immediately becomes upset. He can feel the acid literally pouring out, and starting to rise in his throat. Now realizing that it is possible for smell to be a trigger, he returns home to deal with his acid reflux.
Smell is tied to taste in the brain, and that is what makes it so easy for the body to react. Your body—or Joe’s in this case—would react the same way if it got a small taste of rotten eggs.
Spicy foods are not ideal for acid reflux sufferers either—and if you happen to have gotten a whiff of a spicy food, your acid reflux may kick into gear.
On the other hand, is it possible to soothe your acid reflux by smelling something nice all of the time? It has been shown that smelling soft scented things that make you happy, and that don’t have a greasy scent to them, may very well help you keep your acid reflux under control.
So, can smell affect acid reflux, or not? It appears to be a case by case situation. For those people who have serious issues with some particular smells—they just can’t stand them—then yes, smell can affect it. There are many people for whom smell won’t affect their acid reflux at all, even though it does tie into the sense of taste.
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