why does pregnancy heighten your sense of smell?

Answer 1

Here is an interesting article I found on this subject. It says that pregnant women have so many things going on in their bodies with hormones and morning sickness that the heightened sense of smell is just one of the things in pregnancy that isn't necessarily good or bad. It will help us to steer clear of foods that our stomachs cannot bear to hold down. It will also draw us to things that we like. I think it's hormones!
http://pregnancytoday.com/articles/4294.php

Answer 2

Sounds like you are getting pregnancy brain too. The heightened sense of smell means that you can smell much better (you can smell if there is even a small amount in the air) and you are better able to identify the smell. It doesn't necessarily mean that it makes you sick. If you don't have morning sickness, you probably won't get sick. For those of us who do have morning sickness, many smells can be good but so overwhelming that they make us sick and some are just nasty. (I love the smell of popcorn but it is so powerful that if I walk down the microwave popcorn isle in the store, it makes me sick.) What you describe is exactly what a heightened sense of smell means. Your sense of smell works by catching little molecules of scent in the air. When something is far away or doesn't have a very strong odor, there aren't many molecules but you are now able to pick them up better.

Answer 3

Its just some prehistoric thing that follows women forever. When you're pregnant a heightened sense of smell allows you to stay away from foods or other toxic chemicals that could potentially be dangerous. I've also heard that women have a heightened sense of sight so that they can see their children better from afar in case they get into any dangerous situations....Who knows, this could all be just old-wives tales.

Answer 4

I love the answers that the other users gave you! I would imagine that the medical reason is that you have an increased blood flow while you are pregnant, so maybe that allows for a heightened sense of smell.

Answer 5

Big time! This is part of the reason why pregnant women can get nauseated so easily. There are smells that just drive me crazy and I'll start to complain to my husband, but he just looks at me like I'm nuts because he can't smell it.

Answer 6

I'm not exactly sure why, look it up on google. When I was pregnant, one of the things I could not stand smelling was black & mild cigars. It seemed like I could smeel it for miles away!! lol Even to this day black and mild smoke makes me sick to my stomach!!

Answer 7

I suppose everyone is different. I've been pregnant four times and I never noticed my sense of smell increasing.

Answer 8

To help avoid potentially dangerous food, and possibly give you greater warning of approaching predators as you will not be moving as fast.

Answer 9

I don't know. My guess would be to steer you away from nasty things that would be dangerous for your and baby. But that's always just been my hypothesis.

Answer 10

Very much so.