be healthy

Taste, touch, see, hear, and smell better than ever before

It used to be that rock stars were the only people who blew out their bodies, what with the amplifiers (ears), pyrotechnics (eyes), and drugs (everything else). Today, it's different: Even if you've never injected Jack Daniel's, you may be closer to Keith Richards than you realize.

Let's start at the top, with your hearing: A new study by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association found that daily use of blaring MP3 players and cellphones can lead to permanent hearing loss. Moving down a little, researchers in Mexico City report that people in urban areas can't smell strong odors like coffee as well as their brethren in the 'burbs. You read it correctly: life without the aroma of arabica beans.

The rest of your senses are also in danger of being dulled. Fortunately, you possess fully functioning common sense, which dictates that taking action will lower your risk -- and perhaps even put you ahead. "If you pay attention to and practice using your senses, you can hone them and may reduce or prevent future problems," says Beverly Cowart, Ph.D., director of the Monell-Jefferson Taste and Smell Clinic, in Philadelphia. Start with your sight and read this plan for becoming a more sensitive guy.

TESTING, TESTING

In addition to establishing a perceptual baseline, the following tests may also reveal any serious problems, such as, say, significant hearing loss that you've managed to deny up till now. So if you bomb one, see "The Sense Experts," below, for specialists you can turn to for help.

1. This is going to hurt: Hand over the remote control. Now sit down with your wife or girlfriend to watch a dialogue-critical TV show, like Law & Order or Lost. Start with the volume at your normal level, but ask her to progressively lower it a few clicks at random points during the program. If you can recount the story line, your ears are in the clear, says Gail Whitelaw, Ph.D., president of the American Academy of Audiology. Even more baffled than usual by Locke? Your hearing needs help.

2. Walk into your bedroom and position yourself 10 feet from the nightmare on the night table -- i.e., the alarm clock. Stare at the LED display for a few seconds with one eye closed: first your left, then your right. "Assuming you don't have a clock with a huge display, your vision is fine if you can see the numbers clearly," says Ernest Kornmehl, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard medical school. But if the numbers are blurry -- and you aren't intoxicated -- there's a problem.

3. Close your eyes and open your mouth. The idea is to have your wife/girlfriend/buddy place a little sugar (sweet), salt (salty), lemon juice (sour), and coffee (bitter) on your tongue, while you try to correctly ID each one, says Alan Hirsch, M.D., neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, in Chicago. Can't detect a difference? Go to the next test and make sure your proboscis isn't the problem. "Ninety percent of taste is determined by smell," says Dr. Hirsch.

4. Is your sniffer up to snuff? Find out by shutting your eyes and having someone you trust waft three "mystery items" with distinct scents under your nose. For example: blue cheese, a fabric-softener sheet, and an orange slice (uh, but not those three). Your schnozz is in good shape if you can identify all of them, says Dr. Hirsch.

5. Okay, last test: Shut your eyes. Now have someone lightly brush three objects with different textures and/or temperatures across the back of your hand. It could be anything from a piece of sandpaper to an ice cube -- ask the person to get creative (but not creepy). If you successfully name each object, go ahead and see what it feels like to pat yourself on the back.

Go to the next page and get the tips on sharpening all five of your senses...

SHARPEN YOUR SENSE OF...

Smell

Like your tolerance for Johnny Knoxville films, "your sense of smell deteriorates with age," says Dr. Hirsch. "By the time you're 65, your ability will be reduced by half." You can dodge this decline by taking a deep whiff of a specific, pleasurable smell every day, whether it's your partner's perfume or a pepperoni pizza. "When you do this consistently over a few months, it will cause your body to create new scent receptors," says Dr. Hirsch.

Speak and smell. Putting words to a scent can supercharge your nose. "Identifying and describing an odor enhances your ability to smell it," says Cowart. When researchers at Wayne State University asked people to smell T-shirts worn by family members, they identified who had worn which shirt just by sniffing it and describing the scent. Practice this trick with the edible -- "Honey, your sauce has a sweet, garlicky aroma" -- and the offensive -- "Dude, your sweat has a rotting onion stench."

Sight

Long stretches of working at a computer, driving a car, or ogling the models on Deal or No Deal can exacerbate eye dryness, the number-one cause of blurry vision. Fortunately, your body comes with a high-tech rehydration system. "Take 'blinking breaks' throughout the day--blinks work like windshield wipers, clearing up the surface of the eye and encouraging tear production," says Dr. Kornmehl. Train yourself to blink every time you perform a frequent action, such as clicking your mouse or flicking your turn signal.

If your eyes could talk...you'd be a circus freak. And in between shows, they'd tell you to fortify them with B vitamins. New USDA research found that people with high intakes of the B vitamins riboflavin and thiamin had the least clouding of their eyes' lenses, the most direct measure of cataract risk. Increase your intake with a daily multivitamin containing your quota of B1 (thiamin) and B2 (riboflavin). And if you miss a day, grab some trail mix that contains nuts, seeds, and M&Ms to replenish both vitamins.

Hearing

Music can be a mallet banging on your eardrums, or it can be a tool to fine-tune them. The trick is maintaining a sane volume (you should be able to carry on a normal conversation) and regularly singling out and listening to one instrument. It will help you perceive more details in everyday sounds, says Whitelaw. Think of it as a form of resistance exercise, in which you're training a weak body part.

One glass of red wine may not get you drunk, but it does go to your head. Or, more specifically, to your ears. Researchers with the Henry Ford Health System found that when rats were given resveratrol, the wonder chemical in red wine, they had a 50 percent reduction in noise-induced hearing damage. "We're confident this is just as effective in humans," says Michael Seidman, M.D., the lead author.

Taste

Unless there's a hot-dog-shaped trophy at stake, stop scarfing down your food. "Thorough chewing unlocks more flavor mol-ecules," says Dr. Hirsch. "And holding the food in your mouth ensures that those molecules will make contact with both the tastebuds and nasal cavity." This doesn't mean stowing your food like chewing tobacco -- just wait a few seconds before letting it slide down your gullet.

Your tongue has been burnt, bitten, and tied, but the worst abuse may be the flavor flogging. Give all 10,000 of your tastebuds a break by abstaining from salty, sweet, sour, or bitter foods -- whichever taste you can't get enough of -- for 2 weeks. "When you don't eat a flavor for a while, your receptors for that flavor are rejuvenated," says Dr. Hirsch.

Touch

If you usually barehand it when batting, putting, or serving, go gloved for your practice swings. Placing material between your skin and what you're gripping will force the receptors to work harder as they try to feel through the barrier, says Field. Take the gloves off for the game and you'll get a boost in sensitivity that will give you greater control. For tennis, try the Advantage glove ($18); for golf, the FootJoy F3 ($16); and for baseball or softball, the Rawlings Workhorse ($40).

In the wrong hands, skin can be a blunt instrument. "Without regular stimulation, your skin receptors become less sensitive," says Tiffany Field, Ph.D., founder of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami school of medicine. Sex is one source of stimulation, especially if body oil enters the equation. (Check the selection at goodvibes. com.) But you can also get a hot-stone massage, go for a swim in bracingly cold water, or use a long-handled bristle brush instead of a wimpy washcloth. Then have more sex.

THE SENSE EXPERTS

Hearing
Start with an audiologist (audiology.org), who will refer you to an otolaryngologist (entnet.org) if the problem requires medical intervention.

Sight
Unless you're absolutely certain that all you need is new contacts, make an appointment with an ophthalmologist (aao.org), not an optometrist.

Touch
A loss of feeling in your hands could be serious, so see your primary-care physician. Depending on the culprit, you may need a neurologist (aan.com/public/find.cfm).

Smell
If you don't have an obvious cause of sinus congestion, see your primary-care doc. The next step: a referral to an otolaryngologist (entnet.org).

Taste
Assuming you aren't a smoker and don't have dry mouth or take a medicine that lists "ageusia" as a side effect, see the "Smell" entry. Taste and smell problems are often intertwined.