• Question: why do older people smell worse?

    Asked by VeKz Wave to Carolyn, Peter, Richard, Sara, Siana on 10 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Sara Falcone

      Sara Falcone answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      I think that a good explanation is that when we age our senses start to decline, they do not work as well anymore. And that is the case for the sense of smell too, they just don’t notice the odor that you (with your super active sense of smell) do.

    • Photo: Peter Francis

      Peter Francis answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      Ageing is associated with a progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. Sometimes this reduces peoples ability to perform activities of daily living and live independently.

    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      I don’t think anybody knows but is does exist. Researcher in Philadelphia took ‘odour’ samples from young and old people by sewing special pads onto T-shirts and asking young and old people to sleep in them for 5 nights. They then collected the samples and asked people if they could tell the age group – most people identified the ‘old age smell’ every time!

      Nobody knows what causes this – theories range from changes in metabolism, changes to the sweat glands or skin bacteria, or changes in personal hygiene.

    • Photo: Siana Jones

      Siana Jones answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      That is quite a brave question. Well done.

      Richards answer suggests that there is an ‘aging’ smell independent of reduced capacity to keep up good hygiene. It makes sense that the ‘aging’ smell is unpleasant to younger people because it would help people of a reproductive age to become attracted to other reproductively-sound partners.

      Perhaps you should develop ‘Senior Lynx’ or something similar to help with the problem.

Comments