This Valentine’s Day, many women are going to dress themselves up with perfume to be more attractive to potential (or current) mates. However, all those smell goods may be unnecessary when it comes to attracting a partner.
According to a recent study in Psychology Science, women who go natural may do a better job at capturing their potential lover’s attention!
Humans may be more discreet than animals, but it turns out that smells are still very important. Animals have long used scent to choose a partner, but human males may do the same thing without realizing it.
Florida State University psychological scientists Saul L. Miller and Jon K. Maner decided to see if human male testosterone levels are influenced by natural odor signals like in the animal world. Ovulating women, whether they realize it or not, do emit a certain odor.
The Sniffy Study: (that’s my name for it)
For three nights at various phases of their menstrual cycles, women wore tee shirts. The males in the study smelled one of the tee shirts that had been worn by a female participant. Some of the males smelled control tee shirts that weren’t worn by anyone. For testosterone analysis, scientists collected saliva samples before and after the men smelled the shirts.
The Amazing Sniffy Study Results:
Men who smelled the shirts worn by ovulating women had higher levels of testosterone than men who smelled tee shirts worn by non-ovulating women or the control shirts. Plus, men rated the odors on pleasantness after smelling them. Guess what? They rated the shirts worn by ovulating women as the most pleasant smelling!
According to the authors, this research is the “first to provide direct evidence that olfactory cues to female ovulation influence biological responses in men.” That means that testosterone levels could be responsive to smells indicating when a woman is fertile. The authors concluded that the scents may promote sexy behavior by males.
Perhaps you should avoid blind dates while ovulating…
(Image via flickr.pedrosimoes7)
Post from: Blisstree