--- title: Study: Loss of Smell May Signal Death in Five Years description: Older adults inability to smell may signal coming death in five years' time canonical: https://time.com/3455141/study-sense-of-smell-death/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-02T08:10:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:26.174Z article:section: Health og:title: How Your Sense of Smell Is Linked to Your Lifespan og:description: Older adults' inability to smell may signal coming death in five years' time. og:url: https://time.com/3455141/study-sense-of-smell-death/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf3f90fdcd2b2043/6986a6b61eebf79ddc37303d/smell-life.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5200 og:image:height: 2925 og:image:alt: Womans jaw, low angle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Your Sense of Smell Is Linked to Your Lifespan twitter:description: Older adults' inability to smell may signal coming death in five years' time. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf3f90fdcd2b2043/6986a6b61eebf79ddc37303d/smell-life.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Your Sense of Smell Is Linked to Your Lifespan > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=2fc9ab47-4473-417e-b7e4-8de0c7932e0a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now [Watch (HLS stream): A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uJFYIrvP.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2014-08-20. A practicing sex therapist in New York City, Dr. Shirley Zussman has witnessed everything from the legalization of the contraceptive birth control pill to the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s to the rise of internet porn in the new millenium._ by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Oct 2, 2014 8:10 AM UTC  Womans jaw, low angle Womans jaw, low angle Getty Images by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Oct 2, 2014 8:10 AM UTC The loss or erosion of an individual’s sense of smell may [signal](http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2014/20141001-smell.html) impending death, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Chicago found 39% of subjects who failed olfactory sense tests died within a five-year period, compared with 19% of subjects with moderate smell loss and just 10% who retained a healthy sense of smell. This mean the loss or degradation of the olfactory sense may serve effectively as an “early warning” signal that something has gone very wrong inside the body, says the study published in the journal _PLOS One_ on Wednesday. “We think loss of the sense of smell is like the canary in the coal mine,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Jayant Pinto. “Our findings could provide a useful clinical test, a quick and inexpensive way to identify patients most at risk.” The research was conducted in two waves over the course of more than five years and surveyed approximately 3,000 adults. ## Transcript Sexual pleasure is only one part of what men and women want from each other. They want intimacy, they want closeness, they want understanding, they want comfort, they want fun, and they want somebody who really cares about them beyond going to bed with them, and I think people are always seeking that. In every generation. [ MUSIC ] My name is Shirley Zussman. I just reached a hundred years of age, and I am a practicing sex therapist. I was invited with my husband to a lecture in New Jersey, in 1966. Masters and Johnson were the speakers. No body knew about them. Human sexual response had just been published, what I saw was a couple who will say that people had problems in an area in their lives that was very important and they were recognizing that it was all not just. Glamorous and wonderful to be sexual. One had to almost had to learn how to be a good partner and to endure the pleasure not only for yourself but for each other. And I thought we can do that. Why can't we do that? And we applied for training with Masters and Johnson at that time. The patients that came to us were people who read the paper. The only way they do anything about the work that was being done there. And the problems they came with, was somewhat different than the problems they come with today. Mostly, women came because would put out orgasmic, they didn't know how to achieve an orgasm, but they wanted one. It was so over that ,. Goal they had for themselves and how do I get there. That was one Masters and Johnson's contribution that there was a relatively simple way to start learning about your body. In other words, get, get to know your, who you are sexually and physically and that was. And encouragement for masturbation for learning what makes you feel good. I see a big change in the we view casual sex. In the 60's I think it was not just casual it was frantic. I'm shocked at the lack of connection with people; because of iPhones, even I love my iPhone. There is so much less actual physical connection, there's less touching, there's less talking, there's less holding, there's less looking, [ INAUDIBLE ]. People get pleasure from looking at each other. But the most common problem, I would say, in the sex therapy that I live in, is a lack of desire. You have to look at your priorities. You have to decide what is important to make you feel good about yourself and your life. 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