We know that the sense of smell can influence our state of mental health. With Covid-19 and the symptom of anosmia, there have been many testimonies of a drop in morale. Studies have shown that smells play an important role in the attachment we have to others, too. SO why couldn’t the sweat of strangers play on our emotions ? It is the postulate ofa recent study relayed by the BBC.
The research seems a bit far-fetched, but has intriguing results… Swedish researchers wanted to find out what the smell of other people’s sweat actually causes, other than the discomfort at the moment T. They have took two groups of people and showed them two completely different films: one horror and the other joyful, before taking sweat samples.
Does sweat interact with the mood of the person who smells it?
These were given to feel (blindly) to women who were followed for social anxiety disorders. And in the subsequent mindfulness-based therapy session where they were asked to replay moments associated with negative thoughts, a result was seen.
Placebos were mixed with the real smells. And women who had smelled sweat samples, tended to respond better to treatment. As if the sweat activated something related to emotions in the brains of those who had sniffed it.
“It may just be the fact that the smell gives the impression of being in the presence of someone else, which produced this effect”, underlines one of the authors of the study with the BBC. This research is not yet complete, but suggests that sweat (and the chemicals it contains) may interact with the brain’s emotional center.
Source: BBC
