Body Odor Similarity Improves Social Bonding and Instant Connections
"According to a recent small study, published in the journal Science Advances, people who had an instant personal connection also shared similar body odors.
How Smell Helps Us "Click"
The study involved 20 friendship pairs who said they instantly "clicked". The researchers found that each person's body odor was closer to their friend's than they would expect to be the case purely by chance.
Each friendship pair followed a regimen well-practised in the field of human body odor research—cutting out foods like onions and garlic (which affect body odor) for a few days, and ditching aftershave and deodorant. They also bathed with an unscented soap provided by the lab and slept in a fresh, clean T-shirt (also provided by the lab). The T-shirts were then returned to the researchers for testing.
Using a device that acted like a nose (an eNose), the researchers assessed the odor-causing volatile compounds coming from each T-shirt, with the help of 25 other volunteers to assess the similarity of the smells.
The researchers were interested to find that "click" friends have similar body odor and that it was possible to predict clicking by body odor similarity with 71% accuracy (77% when there was a mutual click and 68% when there wasn't).
What Is Subconscious Smelling?
The study also notes that people subconsciously smell each other.
Each person has a unique personal odor that is influenced by genetics, as well as environmental factors such as the food that they typically eat. "Both aspects influence the way that we think of a person, and we can even use that odor as a cue to a person’s identity," says White, who co-authored a paper showing that first impressions are altered through the environmental odors associated with people.
Evidence from previous studies suggests that people's moods and emotions, including how they can be highly affected by odor.
Friendships and Mental Health
Friends play a crucial part in protecting our mental heath and wellbeing. Not only can friends help us be happier, they can help us find more meaning in life and support us during our times of need.
"Subconscious signals that indicate a person is more similar to our lifestyle than others may be a quick prejudicial way to effect an introduction to a friendship," she says."
Read the complete article available at Very Well Mind!
Reflection:
What are you thoughts on this discovery?
*I find this study so fascinating. I've never noticed someone's' 'natural odor' before. I've always wondered what mine would be. I think it would definitely be similar to my best friend's.*
#BodyOdor #Scent #Relationships #Research
@comfortableNight4463
actually i knew this ! And i have smelled a partner’s natural odor it is so true that we all have a scent, its the same as mammals in the wild we mate by smell scent, we are attracted to our mates by smell, you can smell each person if you really tried, and its not a weird gross smell its just hard to describe it, i know such as my ex when his bo came off him it was good smelling to me it was not too pungent or strong, but enough to make me tippy toe i guess?
