As adults, we think nothing of downing a cup of thick heavily-caffeinated espresso or freshly-brewed tea to perk up our day when we are feeling tired at work. Of course, we would never dream of feeding this to our kids. But how do you keep their concentration up while they study for exams you ask? Well, you’ll be glad to hear that there is an effective way to boost your child’s concentration this exam season that doesn’t involve caffeine. There is in fact a perfectly effective way of providing an energy boost to improve your child’s concentration, simply through their sense of smell.
Find out what scents can improve your child’s concentration and study.
“The sense of smell is the least tangible and most often taken for granted,” Sandy Blandin, a fragrance expert tell us. We often overlook the importance of smell and its ability to boost our emotional and psychological well-being. During our chat with Blandin at a recent “Smelly to Smiley” Ambi Pur event, she shared some useful tips on using scents to improve your child’s concentration or to help him relax.
Scent tips to help productivity and concentration
Just place a drop or two of an essential oil on a cotton ball and take a whiff when you need an energy boost. If you have an electric diffuser, add 1-6 drops for a couple of hours.
Here are some scents and their effects for you and your children:
1. Lemon
This scent promotes concentration and has calming, clarifying properties that are helpful when you’re feeling angry, anxious or run down. Lemon also has antiviral and antibacterial properties that can help fight sore throats and colds by boosting the body’s immune system and improving circulation.
2. Lavender
This essential oil has calming properties that helps control emotional stress. Lavender has a soothing effect on nerves and can relieve nervous tension and depression, as well as treat headaches and migraines.
Blandin drops a single drop of lavender oil onto her young one’s pillow to help with a soothing, good night’s sleep.
3. Jasmine
Like lavender, jasmine it is also used to calm nerves, but this oil is also commonly used as an anti-depressant because of its uplifting properties that produce a feeling of confidence, optimism and revitalised energy.
Sandy Bladin tells us that scents and odours have an impact on our daily lives.
About Sandy Blandin
Sandy Blandin is the founder of NoseWhoKnows, which specialises in olfactive training and fragrance strategy. She started her career as a laboratory technician in 1999 after completing her Master’s Degree in the science of aromas and perfumes. She frequently holds workshops for children to hone their sense of smell, appreciate scents and also to have a fun time making their own perfume soaps.
Read on for more about scents and how they affect our daily lives.
Scents can improve your child’s concentration and mood.
From “Smelly to Smiley” with Ambi Pur
Linda Lim, air care scientist for Proctor and Gamble recently talked to theAsianparent about the technology behind its Ambi Pur Air Effects Spray (lavender vanilla and New Zealand springs). It has the ability to get rid of odour completely, leaving a pleasant scent in the air which in turn positively impacts our daily life by improving relaxation, moderating moods, triggering memories and affecting concentration.
We put this to the test by doing a blind-fold test and smelling nothing but floral goodness in a room of durians, dirty socks and trash. As a durian-hater, this really impressed me as I can usually spot durian stink from a mile away. To be in a room with all those strong odors and not smell it – that was pretty impressive. We also took a whiff of lemon oil which really did give us a fresh boost of energy for the morning.
Is it safe for my child?
That is definitely the golden question on every parent’s mind.
Blandin assures that scented oils and perfumes will not harm your child, as everyone’s sense of smell is constantly at play as a result of our constantly changing surroundings. Manipulating scents is no different than taking in an array of smells when you take a whiff of delicious food, or smell freshly cut grass, or when you wrinkle up your nose as you past a smelly sewage. In fact, well-chosen scents can benefit your child by improving your child’s concentration and mood with its pleasantness. However, she warns that you should exercise basic common sense and not to spray anything directly at infants, toddlers or those with asthmatic problems.
Have you used scents to help your child concentrate while (s)he studies? Tell us in the comment box below, what has worked for your child in improving concentration while studying.
