The scientists suspect that the smell of sweat has a calming effect, because it stimulates a certain part of the brain. This is written by various foreign media, including the BBC.
How exactly the volunteers collected the sweat samples from themselves, the story does not tell. It is known that some of the volunteers collected sweat while watching a scary movie and another part while a happy movie was playing.
The subjects in the study were 48 women with a social anxiety – such as fear of criticism or rejection. Some of them smelled the sweat samples. Another part smelled placebo samples, so clean air.
In addition to sniffing sweat or fake sweat, all the women practiced mindfulness. The women who were exposed to the real sweat fared better during that therapy. Exactly how this was measured is unclear.
Still in early stage
The BBC quotes lead researcher Elisa Vigna as saying that the sweat of the people who watched the happy film had the same effect as the sweat of the people who watched something scary. The researchers will now further investigate whether sweat has a calming effect anyway and therefore does not convey the mood of the person from whom it comes.
Perhaps a small warning: sniffing other people’s armpits too enthusiastically is perhaps still a bit premature; the scientists emphasize that these are preliminary results. The first findings will be presented this week at a conference in Paris.
