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For most people, coffee is the primary beverage to perk the morning up. But do you know that simply by smelling the scent of a coffee alone perks up your morning?
If you’re thinking it just only your imagination, it is not. In fact, one study1 proves it that smelling coffee alone is good enough to boost focus and performance.
Furthermore, researchers say that even if the smell is not from a real coffee but from a coffee-like scent can arouse a placebo effect.
How It Works?
Unfortunately, the researchers have no clear clue how it works. But they say that smelling the coffee scent it causes some sort of placebo effect. Somehow, an expectation in performance can result in an actual performance boost.
In this study, researchers recruited 114 students and split them into two groups. The students then answer GMAT questions. Then, the researchers found that the group who smell coffee during the exam achieve higher scores than the other group.
The lead researchers of the study, Adriana Madzharov says;
It’s not just that the coffee-like scent helped people perform better on analytical tasks, which was already interesting. But they also thought they would do better, and we demonstrated that this expectation was at least partly responsible for their improved performance.
Well, that was just an initial experiment using a caffeine-free coffee-like smell. This first experiment yielded over 70% of the participants. Then, a second experiment follows.
Results of the Second Experiment
In this second experiment, researchers conducted a survey. They found that coffee scent makes the participants more alert and energetic. And, that’s not all, the coffee scent when compared to other scents like flowers, or no scent at all, still, coffee scent causes performance boost.
The people in this second experiment or survey are not the same as the previous experiment. Instead of using actual coffee scent, the researchers let the subjects associate the coffee smell to enhance responsiveness mentally.
The results are the same as the previous study. This lead researchers to conclude that coffee smell stimulates some sort of placebo effect. Although many are puzzled on the placebo effect, it actually exists.
Should Stop Drinking Coffee and Simply Smells It?
For people who feel coffee has a negative impact on them, smelling it is good enough. However, if you’re a coffee lover enjoying your cup of coffee every morning, there is no reason to avoid it.
One thing for sure, coffee will not cause dehydration as previously thought. In fact, coffee does the opposite. Studies have shown the many health benefits of coffee including;
- Heart health
- Lower risks of strokes and heart failure
- Good for prostate health
- Potentially extends your life
- Brain health
- Reduces risk2 of erectile dysfunction
Of course, these are just a few among the wide range of coffee health benefits.