Today a fitness center is no longer just a place to get fit, it is much more. it is a place where we can break away from everyday life, relax and “take time for ourselves”. It is like a sacred place, where not only the body is regenerated but also the spirit.
Exercise does something that medication doesn’t.
It proves a new identity to yourself. Each time you finish a workout, you reap the benefits of an increased sense of self–confidence. The cumulative impact of these “small wins” is enormous.
We like to think of physical activity as a way to revitalize and renew ourselves, as fuel to better enjoy and succeed at what matters most.
Now imagine connecting an ambient scent to this mood and state of mind.
The result is explosive.
Studies have proven that if you experience a particular scent while a pleasant activity or event occurs, you will likely end up liking that scent for the rest of your life.
Smell is connected with the sphere of the brain containing the emotional response, memories, motivation and pleasure – where there is no conscious control.
None of our other senses have this direct and intimate connection with these areas of the brain (that process emotion, associative learning, and memory). For this reasons, a smell can trigger emotional and physical reactions even without our conscious awareness of it and activate our odor-evoked memories.
There have been many anecdotal and literary accounts of the special resonance of odor-evoked memories. The most famous example is the one described by Marcel Proust at the start of his seven-volume opus on memory (The Remembrance of Things Past) where he recounts the experience of dipping a madelèine biscuit into linden tea and the triggering of a long-forgotten recollection that ensued from the aroma. From the fame of this description, the common term for these special smell-evoked memories has become known as the “Proust phenomenon.” Proustian memories are characterized as emotionally rich, vivid, and sudden autobiographical recollections that are triggered by a scent. Stemming from this conception, odors have also earned the reputation of being the “best” cues to memory.
