#19 Grandma’s Kitchen: The Neuroscience Edition

One breath of cinnamon and butter can turn a crowded kitchen into a time machine. We dig into why scent doesn’t just remind you of moments—it transports you back into them—by following the direct pathway from the nose to the amygdala and hippocampus, the brain’s hubs for emotion and memory. No detours, no filters, just a visceral flash of home, comfort, and belonging that feels like you’re there again.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

If holiday stress creeps in, you’ll have a clear, evidence-based way to reset in seconds—no app, no device, just your breath and a familiar aroma. I'd be forever grateful for your review on this podcast and if you shared it with your friends and family on social media. Have a great holiday! 

Note: This podcast episode is sponsored by Dr. Rewire's Brain DNA test. Learn more at Unshakeablebrain.ai. If you're a practitioner and you're interested in adding this at-home lab test to your toolkit, go to Unshakeablebrain.ai/expert.

I, Dr. Kylie, no longer work with clients in any endeavor. If you'd like more support for your health, I recommend working with the physicians at the EllieMD telemedicine platform. To get started, go to https://elliemd.com/?bp=drkylie. For health and wellness experts looking to provide this resource to your clients, get started at https://elliemd.com/join-us/?bp=drkylie.

Thank you for joining the Unshakeable Brain community. Dr. Kylie

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Welcome to Brain Bites, your quick dose of
science and strategies for anunshakable brain.
I'm your host, Dr.
Kylie, and in the next fewminutes, you'll get a sharp
insight to feed your brain onthis lovely Thanksgiving day.
All right, let's dig in.
You walk into your parents'house on Thanksgiving Day and
suddenly you're eight years oldagain.
It's not the decorations, it'snot the people, it's the smell.

(00:26):
Pumpkin pie baking, turkeyroasting, or in my case, we do a
lot more brisket than we doturkey now.
But I can go back to where Igrew up in my grandparents, we
would go to my grandparents'house in central Utah on the
farm, and in we'd have, youknow, 60 of us there with all of

(00:48):
35 grandkids or so, and we justplay around, and it's like some
of my favorite memories.
Grandma and grandpa have sincepassed, and the farm looks a
little different now.
So we don't get those lovely myfavorite traditions on
Thanksgiving.
In fact, Thanksgiving was myfavorite holiday because it's
when we got to see our cousinsand play and do urban redneck

(01:12):
things.
However, when it comes to whygrandma's kitchen lives in your
brain, it's because of thesememories and the smells.
The specific combination ofcinnamon butter and warmth that
only exists on this one day ofthe year, or in my case, it's a

(01:34):
couple days.
We would always do my mama'sfamily Thanksgiving on Thursday,
and then my dad's familyThanksgiving on Friday.
And now it's kind of just it iswhat it is, it's just very
different.
As I've been reading through,going through this podcast, as
well as you've been listening,you might have been flooded with

(01:57):
memories.
Your grandma's laugh, the feelof the couch you used to sit on,
those couches that had flowersall over them, the way the light
came through the kitchen window.
What does a smell do to that?
Here's what's happening insideyour brain, in case you ever
wanted to know.

(02:18):
Your sense of smell is the onlysense with a direct line to your
emotional and memory centers.
When you smell something, thescent molecules travel through
your nose to the olfactory bulb,which sits right at the base of
your brain.
From there, the signal goesdirectly to two key places: the

(02:38):
amygdala, your emotional center,and the hippocampus, your memory
center.
No other sense works this way.
When you see something, hearsomething, taste something, or
touch something, thatinformation has to route through
the thalamus first, your brain'sfirst relay station.

(02:59):
It gets processed, filtered,organized.
But smell?
Smell bypasses all of that andgoes straight to the source.
This is why sense memory is sopowerful, so immediate, so
visceral.
You don't think, oh, that smellslike Thanksgiving at grandma's

(03:21):
house.
You just are there.
The memory doesn't feel like amemory, it feels like you're
living it again.
Scientists call this the Prousteffect, named after French
writer Marcel Proust, whofamously wrote about the smell
of a Madeline cookie dipped intea transported to him back to

(03:41):
his childhood.
But it's not just poetic, it'sneuroscience.
The brain encodes scent memoriesdifferently than any other type
of memory.
They're more emotional, moredetailed, and more resistant to
fading over time.
Think about it.
You might forget what someonesaid to you last week.

(04:02):
You might forget what you woreto an event five years ago, but
the smell of your grandmother'sperfume, the smell of fresh cut
grass from summer growing up asa kid, the smell of the hospital
when your child was born, thosesmells don't fade.
Here's why this matters.

(04:22):
Scent is one of the mostpowerful tools you have for an
emotional regulation and amemory anchoring.
Think back to those smells inthe Thanksgiving Day kitchen.
And when you think about thesmells, what type of memories
does it bring up?
If you're stressed, anxious, oroverwhelmed, huh?

(04:44):
Not if, when, a familiar scentcan immediately calm your
nervous system because it'sdirectly connected to your
emotional brain.
Hmm.
There's a little anxious andoverwhelmed hack.
Pull out a scent that can calmyour nervous system.
It's why lavender is used forrelaxation, why people burn

(05:07):
candles that remind them ofhome, and why certain smells
make you feel safe.
Your brain doesn't just rememberscents, it feels them.
On this Thanksgiving day, payattention to the smells, not
just passively, actively.
Notice them, breathe them in,let them register.

(05:29):
Because those smells aren't justpleasant.
They're creating memories thatwill last for decades.
They're wiring your brain withcomfort, connection, and
belonging.
And years from now, when youcatch a whiff of pumpkin pie or
roasted turkey, you won't justremember today.
You'll feel it.

(05:50):
Your weekly challenge for thisweek is to create a scent
anchor.
Pick one smell that you want toassociate with calm, safety, or
happiness.
It could be a candle, anessential oil, a specific
lotion, even the smell of I'mnot gonna say it coffee.
Coffee makes me gag.

(06:11):
Or fresh laundry.
Oh.
How about we change it out withhot chocolate or like I can't
even walk down the coffee aisle.
It's horrid to me.
Use this scent intentionallyduring moments when you feel
good.
When you're relaxed, connected,at peace.
Your brain will start to linkthat smell with that feeling.

(06:33):
And later, when you need to calmyour nervous system or shift
your mood, you can use thatscent as a shortcut.
You're literally programmingyour olfactory memory.
It's one of the most powerfuland underused tools for an
unshakable brain.
Your fact for today is yoursense of smell is the only sense

(06:53):
that's fully developed at birth.
Newborns can recognize theirmother by scent within days.
This is why scent bonding is sopowerful.
It's the first language yourbrain ever learned.
Scent isn't just memory, it'ssurvival, connection, and love,
all wired into your mostprimitive brain structures.

(07:14):
I'm Dr.
Kylie.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
And if you have normal labs orwant to look at how your labs
impact your brain health, gograb my book on Amazon,
Unshakable Brain, and you can bethe best person to read your own
labs.
I'm Dr.
Kylie.
Until next time.