Psychological and physiological evaluation of emotional effects of a perfume in menopausal women.
In the present study, we familiarized menopausal women with a pleasant smell in the skin care products, they used for 1 week and assessed whether their mood and emotions improved using behavioural and physiological tools. Eventually, we studied the effects of inhaling the familiar fragrance on physiological response of the subjects. An anhedonia questionnaire was used to distinguish the effects of the test products according to low vs. high score of anhedonia. Familiarization with the fragrance induced a modification of some physiological parameters, reflecting a relaxing effect, and these unconscious effects paralleled the conscious positive effects on mood recorded during the familiarization phase; it appeared that the effects were more prominent in subjects with higher scores of anhedonia. These results suggest that the pleasant smell of a skin care product contributes to the quality of life in a population of menopausal women with low easiness to experience pleasure.
Abriat
A
A
Lancôme International, Paris, France. aabriat@luxe.loreal.com
Barkat
S
S
Bensafi
M
M
Rouby
C
C
Fanchon
C
C