When Scents Take Your Breath Away: Perfume, Essential Oils and Asthma
When Scents Take Your Breath Away: Perfume, Essential Oils and Asthma
A spritz of perfume. A lavender diffuser. A scented candle burning in the living room. A strongly fragranced cleaning product.
For many people, these smells are simply part of everyday life. But for someone with asthma—or for some people who experience migraines—walking into a heavily scented space can be much more than unpleasant. It may trigger coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath or a pounding headache.
And “natural” fragrances, including essential oils, aren't necessarily an exception.
Why Can Fragrances Bother People With Asthma?
Asthma is a chronic lung condition in which the airways are inflamed and can become overly responsive to certain exposures. When a trigger is encountered, the muscles surrounding the airways may tighten while inflammation and mucus further restrict airflow.
Everyone's asthma triggers are different. Pollen, mold, dust mites, respiratory infections, smoke, exercise and weather changes are familiar examples. But strong odors and fumes belong on that list, too.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies breathing certain chemicals or fragrances as a potential asthma trigger. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology also notes that strong odors and fumes can irritate the airways of people with asthma.
That means perfume doesn't necessarily have to cause a traditional allergic reaction to cause trouble.
With an allergy, the immune system reacts to a specific substance. A fragrance may instead act as an irritant, provoking symptoms in already-sensitive airways. A person can therefore react to a scent without being “allergic to perfume” in the conventional sense.
Symptoms after fragrance exposure may include coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, throat or nasal irritation, and eye irritation. Some people may experience symptoms almost immediately, while others notice them after spending time in a scented environment.
Perfume Isn't the Only Source of Fragrance
When we think about scents, perfume and cologne usually come to mind first. In reality, fragrance is found throughout our homes, workplaces, schools and public spaces.
Scented laundry products, plug-in air fresheners, room sprays, candles, incense, cleaning products, hair products, lotions and cosmetics can all introduce fragrance chemicals into indoor air.
The American Lung Association notes that fragrances can release chemicals into the air and contribute to indoor air pollution. For susceptible individuals, exposure can be associated with headaches, dizziness, irritation, coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.
This doesn't mean every fragranced product will cause symptoms in every person with asthma. Sensitivity varies significantly from one individual to another.
What About Essential Oils?
Essential oils deserve special attention because they are frequently marketed as natural products for wellness, relaxation or even respiratory support.
Natural, however, does not mean non-irritating.
Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts containing volatile compounds—the very characteristics that allow their aromas to spread through a room. When essential oils are diffused or sprayed into the air, those compounds can be inhaled.
The American Lung Association cautions that strong odors from essential oils may act as airway irritants in sensitive people and can potentially contribute to bronchoconstriction, coughing or shortness of breath. Research specifically evaluating essential-oil exposure in people with asthma remains limited, so claims that essential oils can treat or improve asthma should be viewed cautiously.
In other words, an essential-oil diffuser may smell soothing to one person and be a significant respiratory trigger for another.
Lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint and other popular oils shouldn't automatically be considered “safe for asthma” simply because they come from plants.
If you have asthma and notice coughing, wheezing, chest tightness or difficulty breathing around essential oils, stop the exposure and discuss the reaction with your healthcare provider.
Scents Can Trigger Migraines, Too
The lungs aren't the only place where fragrance sensitivity can show up.
People with migraine frequently report increased sensitivity to odors, known as osmophobia, either during a migraine attack or as a trigger for one.
A recent systematic review and meta-analysis involving 58 studies and more than 22,000 patients found that approximately 48% of people studied with migraine experienced osmophobia. About 40% reported migraine attacks triggered by odors, with perfume identified as the primary odor trigger. The authors noted that the precise prevalence is difficult to establish because of differences in how the included studies assessed odor sensitivity.
Earlier research has similarly identified perfumes, cigarette smoke, cleaning products, paint and gasoline among commonly reported migraine triggers.
The relationship is complicated because odors can play more than one role. A strong scent may help precipitate an attack in some individuals, while in others, heightened sensitivity to smells may actually be an early symptom of an migraine that is already developing.
Either way, the experience can be very real—and very disruptive.
Creating a More Scent-Sensitive Environment
If someone in your home, workplace or school has asthma or migraine triggered by fragrance, reducing unnecessary scents can make the environment much more comfortable.
Consider choosing fragrance-free personal-care and cleaning products; limiting perfumes, colognes and strongly scented body sprays; avoiding plug-in air fresheners, room sprays and heavily scented candles; using caution with essential-oil diffusers; improving ventilation when cleaning or using products that produce fumes; and removing the source of unpleasant odors rather than covering them with another fragrance.
For people with asthma, identifying individual triggers is an important part of an overall asthma management plan.
Pay Attention to What Your Body Is Telling You
Not everyone with asthma will react to perfume, and not every person with migraine is sensitive to smells. But if you repeatedly notice symptoms when you walk through the fragrance section of a store, sit near someone wearing strong perfume, use a particular cleaning product or turn on an essential-oil diffuser, the pattern is worth paying attention to.
Keep track of what you were exposed to, where the exposure occurred, how quickly symptoms developed and what symptoms you experienced. That information can help your allergist determine whether fragrance or other environmental irritants may be contributing to poorly controlled asthma.
Most importantly, don't assume a product can't be a trigger simply because it smells pleasant—or because the fragrance came from a plant.
For sensitive airways, a scent is still an exposure.
If fragrances, strong odors or other environmental triggers seem to be making your asthma symptoms worse, talk with your allergist. Identifying your personal triggers and developing an appropriate asthma management plan can help you breathe easier wherever life takes you.
Sources
CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/control/?utm
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
American Lung Association
https://www.epa.gov/asthma/can-use-fragrances-indoors-cause-health-impacts?
PubMed