7 ms·

Could this be why people feel calm and comfortable smelling woodsmoke on a campfire?

• eloisius 6y ago
  It might also explain why I loved being in a wood shop so much as a kid. Something about the warm, sweet smell of wood smoke when the friction from a saw caused it to heat up was so relaxing.
  • text70 6y ago
    Several woody aromatic compounds also have partial molecular similarity with neurotransmitters. Could it have been activating neural pathways directly in your brain through your olfactory?
• eurasiantiger 6y ago
  Definitely. Since the same compounds are formed in meat during cooking, so there is a curious evolutionary correlation: did the first humans harnessing fire and cooking meat do so for the psychoactive effects? The implications also touch demographics, since humans have great variance in the activity of their MAO-A and MAO-B genes. People who get easily addicted to smoke flavoured food, coffee and/or tobacco may simply have inherited a high-activity MAO gene that they are trying to compensate for.
• coldtea 6y ago
  Part of it. It's also because they're camping as opposed to some hellish office.