‘Sniffing sweat calms anxiety’: new study and expert analysis

A super sensitive sense of smell makes the protagonist of the novel The scent prisoner of the nauseating smells that surround him in his daily life, that of 18th century France. One day only one perfume manages to inebriate him – that of a woman – thanks to which he experiences that there can be something beautiful in the world. Unfortunately, that discovery, instead of leading him to accept reality more, drags him towards an obsession that becomes criminal. Smell actually has great power on the brain because it brings back sensations, images, even of events that took place in the distant past. In particular – although it may appear paradoxical – the smell of sweat can be a keystone in helping treat social anxiety, to reduce some phobias related to relationships with others. This is what a group of researchers from the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and the University of Padua found in a study where it emerged that exposure to human odors extracted from sweat activates brain pathways linked to emotions, thus offering a calming effect. This is a pilot study for which it is still too early to say that we have found a new therapy, but there are certainly new elements on which it is worth developing future research.

What is Social Anxiety – Social anxiety disorder is a form of pathological shyness characterized by an excessive fear of making a bad impression look ridiculous in front of others (especially strangers, people in authority or of the opposite sex), of being inadequate or not up to the task. It differs from simple shyness because it causes a strong malaise, is difficult to manage and has negative repercussions in relationships with others, at school or at work. Women especially suffer from it.

The sweat study The team of researchers collected sweat from a series of healthy volunteers as they watched short clips of films selected to elicit particular emotional states, such as fear or happiness. They were then recruited three groups of 16 young women suffering from social anxiety who was asked to use perfumes based on sweat of fear, sweat of happiness and air for two days, without knowing what they contained. The post-psychotherapy results then showed that the women exposed to sweat, whether from people who had watched funny or scary movies, responded better to mindfulness therapy than the others. The surprise for the researchers was that sweat produced while someone was happy had the same effect as that produced by fear, as if there was something specific about human sweat signals that generally affects the brain’s response. To find out, the study team is testing in a follow-up study with people who watch emotionally neutral documentaries whether it’s simply being exposed to someone else’s sweat that has a positive effect. In other words, we want to verify if the potential therapeutic benefits derive from the unconscious perception of other people’s emotional signals, or if it is simply the human component, regardless of the emotion.