Can smelling other people’s sweat control anxiety? – 03/29/2023 – Balance and Health

Smelling other people’s body odor could be helpful in therapy for social anxiety, according to Swedish researchers who have started trials with volunteers.

Scientists have used armpit sweat in experiments.

Their hunch is that the smell activates brain pathways linked to emotions, offering a calming effect – but it’s too early to say whether these experts are right or wrong.

They are presenting some of the first findings on the topic at a medical conference taking place in Paris, France, this week.

WHY (AND HOW) DO WE SMELL?

Babies are born with a strong sense of smell, with a preference for scents that come from their mother and breast milk.

The sense of smell helps humans to sense danger – from rotten food or fire, for example – and to interact with the environment and with other individuals.

This sense also makes meals tastier and can evoke important memories.

Scents are detected by receptors in the upper part of the nose. Their signals are then relayed directly to the limbic system, a region of the brain associated with memory and emotions.

The Swedish researchers suggest that human body odor can communicate our emotional state – happy or anxious, for example – and even elicit similar responses in other people who smell it.

They asked volunteers to donate underarm sweat that they exhaled while watching a comedy or horror movie.

Then 48 women with social anxiety agreed to sniff some of these samples. In addition, they received a more conventional therapy called mindfulness (mindfulness), in which people are encouraged to focus on the here and now rather than daydreaming and repeating negative thoughts.

Some of the volunteers were given genuine body odor to smell, while others – the control group – only had contact with fresh air.

Those who were exposed to sweat seemed to do better after the therapy.

Lead researcher Elisa Vigna of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm reckons that “the sweat produced while someone is happy had the same effect as someone who was startled by a movie.”

“So there may be something about human chemical signals in sweat in general that affect response to treatment,” continues the researcher.

“It could be that simply being exposed to the presence of another person has this effect, but we have yet to confirm this observation. In fact, that’s what we’re testing now, in a similar follow-up study, where we also include the sweat of individuals who watch emotionally neutral documentaries.”

WHAT IS SWEAT? DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE A SMELL?

Most of the sweat that rises from the skin is odorless (i.e., it doesn’t smell at all). But sweat glands in the armpits and groin produce certain compounds that form body odor.

Bacteria on the surface of the skin and in nearby hair follicles break down these compounds, producing others that are responsible for the smell.

Duncan Boak, representative of Fifth Sense, which aims to raise awareness of smell and taste disorders, says that “there is a strong link between smell and emotional well-being”.

“Losing the ability to smell other people, such as a partner and children, can cause depression and feelings of isolation in people.”

“While this is a preliminary study and more work is needed, it is very encouraging to see more research into the importance of our sense of smell for good mental health.”