Smelling sweatshirt helps reduce stress

Research by Canadian scientists indicates that the scent from a lover's shirt helps us to calm and relieve stress.

For some people, sniffing "the other half" is a bizarre act but science concludes that this habit brings health benefits.

In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the research team from the University of British Columbia (Canada) points out the scent of boyfriends / girlfriends to help us reduce stress even when he / she is absent.

The familiar scent helps reduce stress while strange scent raises stress.(Photo: National Post).

According to Time, to make the above conclusion, the authors invited 96 heterosexual couples to join the project. All men are required to wear clean T-shirts without using deodorant rollers, odorants or smokers and eat foods that affect body odor. 24 hours passed, researchers brought these T-shirts to freeze to keep the smell and bring it to the female volunteers.

After smelling a new or used coat, 48 sisters underwent a test that included a job interview and a math interview. They also provide information on stress levels and provide saliva samples to measure the amount of hormones that cause cortisol stress.

The results showed that women smelling the shirt of their boyfriends were less likely to be stressed before and after the test than those who smelled new clothes or smelled other men. The first group of cortisol was also lower than the second group, indicating that the familiar scent of stress relief and strange scent increased stress.

"We instinctively fear strangers, especially if it's a man , " explains Marlise Hofer, head of the project. "It is likely that strange scents have triggered a warfare reaction that we do not recognize."

Ms. Hofer said that not only women but also men are less stressed by the scent of "the other half". In fact, a part of men like to sniff girls' hair.

In short, if you want to reduce stress when you're away, you just need to bring a shirt or item with your boyfriend / girlfriend to use. In addition, the team suggested that parents apply this method to children.

"Away from small children makes both parents and babies tense. Carrying their parents' shirts will help calm the child in the first time he goes to kindergarten or sleep alone," said Hofer.