Why Can't You Smell When You Have Cold

Having runny nose make you lose the ability to smell something..

You must have experienced common cold so many times in your life.That is one of the most common diseases affecting people,which is respiratory infection.

Do you know why you lost your sense of smell when you're having cold?

You will have a runny nose but if it is not that bad,you can still smell.However,if your nose is stuffy enough and it produces lots of discharge(mucus),you will not only having some obstruction to your breathing ,but also will lose the sense of smell.

      In the roof of our nose,there is a sensory area for smell and it is called 'olfactory area'.It contains sensory receptor for smell.In a normal condition,your nose will still produces daily amount of mucous.However,when you have cold,the production of mucous is so much that it reaches the olfactory area and blocks it.So,the sensory receptor cannot detect the odour of smell.That is the reason why you lost the sense of smell when you have running nose.This loss of smell is termed as anosmia.However,anosmia due to cold is only temporary and partial.You will regain your smell sensation once you recovered from the cold.

Is it dangerous to have anosmia?

Anosmia do not usually pose a great health risk,and it is not life threatening.However,it can be dangerous if it causing you to lose your appetite and have nutrition deficiency,or if you could not detect fire burning,gas leaking,poisoned food and so on.Loss of smell will affect the taste sensation this may lead to depression in a person.(Just imagine you cannot smell food) -D