The scientists used armpit sweat for their experiment. Their suspicion is that the smell activates brain cells connected to emotions. This could possibly lead to a calming effect.
Babies are born with a strong sense of smell and what it means. This way they know that the smell of their mother and breast milk is familiar. But smell also warns of danger or can activate certain strong memories.
Aromas are noticed in receptors in the upper part of the nose. This region is strongly connected to the limbic system, a part of the brain where memories and feelings are regulated.
Sweat “communicates” with other people
The Swedish scientists now suggest that body odor can communicate the emotional state of the emitter to other people. As a result, the scent of someone familiar could also have a calming effect on the person smelling that scent.
During the experiment, the scientists took armpit sweat from volunteers. Subsequently, a test group of 48 women with social anxiety disorder smelled this sweat while participating in a mindfulness session. Other women, unbeknownst to them, were served plain air.
In the group that got to smell the sweat, the effect of the mindfulness session was much stronger.
The emotion of the “sweat” doesn’t matter
One half of the volunteers who had their sweat taken watched a romantic movie. The other half watched a horror movie. There appeared to be no difference between the women who got the ‘romantic sweat’ or the women who got the ‘horror sweat’.
The researchers are now going to see if this indeed means that sweat in general has this effect, regardless of the emotions that the person producing the sweat is feeling at the time.
The scientists strongly warn that these are preliminary results. The Swedish team will present the initial findings this week at a medical conference in Paris.
