Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Male Sweat Can Boost Arousal in Women


Finally! Some good news for all us sweat-hogs, apparently there’s a chemical in male sweat that “can boost mood, brain activity and sexual arousal in heterosexual women.”

Apparently the study conducted last year involved 48 undergraduate women who took 20 sniffs from a bottle containing androstadienone, a compound found in male perspiration and other bodily secretions.

"The researchers measured the women's levels of the stress hormone cortisol and compared them to the women's responses to a control odor. Cortisol levels in the women rose within about 15 minutes of inhaling the androstadienone scent and remained elevated for more than an hour, UC Berkeley researchers found.

"They also discovered that blood pressure, heart rate and breathing increased, mood improved and sexual arousal was boosted.

"This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women's hormonal levels is induced by sniffing an identified compound of male sweat," said study leader Claire Wyart, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. "There is much more going on than we think when we are smelling body odor."

"They also discovered that blood pressure, heart rate and breathing increased, mood improved and sexual arousal was boosted.

While the compound can make women feel more positive and sexually aroused, it's still unclear how it affects their behavior, Wyart said.

"Humans are more complex," she said. "You cannot expect them to have stereotypical responses like rodents."

OK, that’s good to know. I was about to claim bullshit on this study, based on my own first-hand experiences with my wife, who seems immune to the romantic lure of man-sweat.



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