Feeling sad? Forget about indulging in your favourite foods, try smelling some sweat.

According to recently published research in the Psychological Science journal, humans may be able to communicate positive emotions like happiness through the smell of our sweat.

Researchers found that humans produce chemical compounds, or chemosignals, when we experience happiness that are detectable by others who smell our sweat.

“This suggests that somebody who is happy will infuse others in their vicinity with happiness. In a way, happiness sweat is somewhat like smiling — it is infectious,” psychological scientist Gün Semin of Utrecht University in the Netherlands shared with ScienceDaily.com.

So Body Odour may not be that bad, after all?

The early findings have broad relevance – emotion and sweat are two core features of the human experience. But the fact that happiness may be communicated chemically could be of particular interest to the deodorant and other scented products.

 

Journal Source:

H. B. de Groot, M. A. M. Smeets, M. J. Rowson, P. J. Bulsing, C. G. Blonk, J. E. Wilkinson, G. R. Semin.A Sniff of Happiness.Psychological Science, 2015