Focusing on inhaling specific odors can wake up the brain and enhance your sense of smell.

The act of smelling, particularly through nasal breathing, significantly impacts brain function, alertness, and learning capabilities.

I'm Andrew Huberman, a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine, and today we're going to talk about chemical sensing, specifically our sense of smell and taste, and how they influence our health and emotions.

Practicing nasal breathing and enhancing your sense of smell can improve your brain health and cognitive abilities, as olfactory neurons are unique in that they are replenished throughout life.

Enhancing your sense of smell through olfactory training can help create new neurons after a head injury.

Olfactory dysfunction is common in traumatic brain injury, and evaluating your sense of smell can indicate whether you're regaining sensory performance, which can be an indicator of recovery from concussion.

Using smelling salts, which contain ammonia, can trigger an innate response that wakes up the brain and body, although it's not recommended for regular use.

The olfactory system triggers alertness through specific neurons that communicate with brain centers responsible for arousal.

When selecting a mate, humans are drawn to those with immune system compositions that are most different from their own, which is often perceived through their smell.