The scent of a romantic partner could be just what you need to help lower stress levels, a new University of British Columbia study has found.

The study, led by UBC graduate student Marlise Hofer, involved 96 opposite-sex couples.

The men were given a clean T-shirt to wear for 24 hours, and were told to refrain from using deodorant and scented body products, smoking and eating certain foods that could affect their scent. The T-shirts were then frozen to preserve the scent.

Meanwhile, the women were randomly assigned to smell a T-shirt that was either unworn, or had been worn by their partner or a stranger, but they were not told which one they had been given.

Each woman underwent a stress test that involved a mock job interview and a mental math task, and also answered questions about their stress levels and provided saliva samples used to measure their cortisol levels.

The study found that women feel calmer after being exposed to their male partnersa国际传媒檚 scent. Conversely, being exposed to a strangersa国际传媒檚 scent had the opposite effect and raised levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.

sa国际传媒淢any people wear their partnersa国际传媒檚 shirt or sleep on their partnersa国际传媒檚 side of the bed when their partner is away, but may not realize why they engage in these behaviours,sa国际传媒� Hofer said.

sa国际传媒淥ur findings suggest that a partnersa国际传媒檚 scent alone, even without their physical presence, can be a powerful tool to help reduce stress.sa国际传媒�

Those leading the study, including co-authors Hanne Collins and Ashley Whillans, also say that evolutionary factors could influence why the strangersa国际传媒檚 scent affected cortisol levels.

sa国际传媒淔rom a young age, humans fear strangers, especially strange males, so it is possible that a strange male scent triggers the sa国际传媒榝ight or flightsa国际传媒� response that leads to elevated cortisol,sa国际传媒� Hofer said. sa国际传媒淭his could happen without us being fully aware of it.sa国际传媒�

Frances Chen, the studysa国际传媒檚 senior author and assistant professor in the UBC department of psychology, said the findings could have practical implications to help people cope with stressful situations when theysa国际传媒檙e away from loved ones.

sa国际传媒淲ith globalization, people are increasingly traveling for work and moving to new cities,sa国际传媒� Chen said. sa国际传媒淥ur research suggests that something as simple as taking an article of clothing that was worn by your loved one could help lower stress levels when yousa国际传媒檙e far from home.sa国际传媒�

ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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