Smelly Solution: How sniffing other people’s sweat can help with social anxiety

‘Don’t sweat it’ goes the famous adage. However, it now seems that your sweat could be the solution to anxiety. And no, this is not a joke. A new research has revealed that sniffing other people’s body odour may be able to help treat social anxiety. The sweat study For the study, a group of European researchers collected, believe it or not, people’s armpit sweat while they were watching either happy or scary film clips — including Mr Bean’s Holiday, Sister Act and The Grudge. Once the sweat had been collected, researchers recruited 48 women, all of whom suffered from social anxiety, and divided them into three groups each of 16 people. Over the next two days, all of them underwent mindfulness therapy for social anxiety. Then one group was exposed to odour samples of those watching the happy movie clips, another was exposed to the sweat of those who had seen the scary movie clips and the final group was given clean air. Surprisingly, the study found that the women who had been exposed to the odour samples responded better to the therapy. It was revealed that those who had undertaken one treatment of mindfulness therapy along with an exposure to body odour showed about 39 per cent reduction in their anxiety scores. Compare this to those who weren’t exposed to the sweat — they scored a 17 per cent reduction. Commenting on the findings of the study, lead researcher Elisa Vigna, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden said, “Sweat produced while someone was happy had the same effect as someone who had been scared by a movie clip. So there may be something about human chemo-signals in sweat generally which affects the response to treatment. She added, “It may be that simply being exposed to the presence of someone else has this effect, but we need to confirm this. In fact, that is what we are testing now in a follow-up study with a similar design, but where we are also including sweat from individuals watching emotionally neutral documentaries.” Relief for those with social anxiety This study could come as a huge relief for those who struggle with social anxiety . According to America’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), social anxiety disorder (SAD) is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. A person with social anxiety disorder feels symptoms of anxiety or fear in situations where they may be scrutinised, evaluated, or judged by others, such as speaking in public, meeting new people, dating, being on a job interview, answering a question in class, or having to talk to a cashier in a store. Doing everyday things, such as eating or drinking in front of others or using a public restroom, also may cause anxiety or fear due to concerns about being humiliated, judged, and rejected. **Also read: Explained: How heatwave affects your mental health** The fear is so extreme that it gets in the way of going to work, or school and even doing everyday chores like grocery shopping. The problem of social anxiety disorder is prevalent across the world; in fact, 15 million, or seven per cent, of American adults have Social Anxiety Disorder as per a report published in 2021. It is not yet known what the exact causes are for SAD but the risk for it may run in families. Scientists have found that several parts of the brain are involved in fear and anxiety and that genetics influences how these areas function. Experts state that SAD can be treated and there are numerous approaches to it. One of them is said to be mindfulness — in which one learns to stay with difficult feelings without analysing, suppressing, or encouraging them. [caption id=“attachment_12359552” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Sweating is important for the human body. It helps to regulate the temperature of the body. Image used for representational purposes/Reuters[/caption] Benefits of sweat This new study is another added benefit of sweating. It is a known fact that sweating is good for the body. Dr Marisa Garshick, a dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology in New York City, said to Health.com, “If your body didn’t have a mechanism to cool down or didn’t sweat, it could put you at risk for overheating.” It is sweat that helps regulate your body’s temperature and is the key reason that humans can stay conscious and healthy in high-temperature environments. Besides the physical aspect, sweating is also good for a person’s mental well-being. Researchers have said that sweating can cause a more relaxed state of mind. Working up a sweat also boosts the immune system. International studies show sweating can cut our chance of getting the flu by one-third! It turns out that sweat has antimicrobial peptides that bind with certain bacteria and viruses in the body. This process helps tackle pathogens like H. pylori, E. coli, and HIV. There have also been other studies that show that sweating can help prevent Alzheimer’s. A study of Finnish men who use saunas found some major mental health benefits. Those with frequent sauna sessions had 65 per cent less risk of Alzheimer’s compared to the once a week sauna group. The bottom line is that sweat, surprisingly isn’t a bad thing, but could be a solution to many of our problems. So, go ahead and sweat it all out. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. 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