Sniffing other people's sweat can help treat social anxiety, study suggests

A study by researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has suggested socially anxious women may benefit from sniffing the body odour of others. Armpit sweat was taken from volunteers who had watched either happy or scary film clips. This sweat was then used alongside traditional mindfulness therapy to treat social anxiety. Sniffing the body odour was found to make mindfulness more effective. The researchers noted therapy saw a 39% reduction in anxiety scores while sniffing body odour, compared to a 17% reduction without sniffing.Social anxiety is a condition in which people worry excessively about social situations.

The study involved 48 women who suffered from social anxiety, who were split into groups, some exposed to clean air and others to body odour. The researchers believe there is something about human sweat which affects the response to treatment, confirming the need for further test of the idea. The researchers posited different effects on treatment depending on the volunteers’ emotions while perspiring, which is why they elicited particular feelings from volunteers by showing them films, but the effect was very similar regardless of the volunteer’s mood. Lead researcher Elisa Vigna commented: “It may be that simply being exposed to the presence of someone else has this effect, but we need to confirm this”.

According to the NHS, there are currently a number of treatments for social anxiety available, including cognitive behavioural therapy, guided self-help and antidepressant medicines. However, many psychologists suggest that the study provides food for thought as to how aromas play a part in social interactions. It is hoped that the findings may have applications for individuals with autism spectrum disorders, who can have difficulty processing social cues.

The concept of the therapeutic effect of smells is hardly new, and various companies have attempted to create specific scents for social situations, and the collaboration of brands with ‘noses’ is becoming more common. The recently-launched perfume brand, Symrise, has used analytical data and consumer research to create personalised fragrances that reportedly improve wellbeing by reacting to the wearer’s lifestyle data.

As we reported recently, Google has partnered with Mondelez International and MediaVest to launch Oreo ‘Wonderfilled’, which uses an algorithm to create website animations, based on users’ social interactions, and tastes, based either on data or by inserting a code inside the cookie packet the consumer then types into the site.

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