Your Dad-Musk Could Help Lower Your Partner’s Stress
If you're a dad, you probably smell like a dad. It's just basic knowledge that raising demon children, playing a round of golf, and referring to your buddies as "the boys" turns you into a creature with something called a "dad musk" and we're not apologizing for it. Turns out, your wife doesn't want you to either.
Researchers have discovered that the particular smell we dudes have actually can help lower the stress of our girlfriends. Who knew right? So don't feel shy about throwing science in her face the next time she asks you to shower when you don't want to.
The Study Involved Bags, Shirts, And Stinky Men
Researchers Hofer, Collins, Whillians, and Chen wanted to figure out the impact of human scents on our stress responses. We all know we suffer when we beg our teenagers to put on some deodorant because we're suffocating on their B.O. over here. But they specifically wanted to test how women feel when exposed to the scent of their partners.
They chose 96 women who were randomly assigned to smell either a shirt their partner wore, a new shirt, or one a stranger wore. Then the women were put through a minimally stressful activity like a job interview.
To Make Sure The Funk Wasn't Compromised
To get the most authentic man-funk they could out of the guys, researchers had them wear the t-shirts for 24 hours and instructed them not to use deodorant, smoke, or do anything that would change their natural musk. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty freaking good at that challenge.
Researchers then collected the shirts and had women randomly smell one of them. Then the women were put to the job interview stress test. Afterward, their saliva was collected to test and measure their cortisol (stress hormone) levels. They also asked the women how they were feeling, and if it was anything like how I feel after a job interview, it's absolutely in-freaking-sane.
Unfamiliar Funk Raises Stress (Even Though They're Too Nice To Say So)
Shockingly, the women who were given their partner's shirts to take a big ol' whiff of actually were less stressed before and after the test compared to the women who got a nose full of a stranger's funk. Which, if you've ever smelled the B.O. of a stranger on the bus, you know is absolutely right.
However, the women who smelled strangers shirts, despite having increased cortisol levels, said they didn't feel stressed. Which means we're probably super polite.
Conclusion: She's Going To Steal Your Sweater Now Even More Often
If you're sitting there confused about how this all works, get ready to have your mind blown and buy some locks for your hoodie drawers because some women actually recognized their partner's smell. Either that's bad news for those stinky guys or these women were part bloodhound because that is some TSA-level K9 unit sniffing going on.
The women who recognized their guy from his scent alone were also even less stressed than the ones who only smelled his B.O. As it turns out, even the suggestion of your presence is like a shot of relaxer. So you can safely bet that your partner is going to be stealing your sweaters from now on.
