It is very probable that odours can affect your mood, wearing a nice perfume can give you some confidence, being in a room that smells good could make you feel happy, smelling a delicious meal will create a desire to eat . But what about the opposite? Can your mood determine how your body smells?
Until recently I had never thought about this possibility, but some scattered observations led me to this conclusion.
When someone I know went to hospital to be treated for a health problem, I noticed after coming back and for a few days after this incident this person had an unpleasant scent. The problem that caused this short visit to hospital was caused by stress. This means that the main reason for feeling sick was psychological. It had to do with how this person felt, feelings that provoked the whole situation.
All this brought back to my mind that this person smelt weird some time a couple of years ago, something that I hadn’t noticed before. It couldn’t have been a result of not washing or not using deodorant. It was a smell that I hadn’t come across before and I thought it wouldn’t be possible to have changed their lifestyle. That period again this person had similar health problems.
Looking for proof about my theory I found this article which mentions ‘anxiety can cause sweating, which may make your armpits and other areas start to smell more like sweat. Anxiety may also cause mouth breathing, which appears to increase bacteria and lead to slightly worse breath.’
This sounds logical as we all know people sweat when they are experiencing stress or fear.
‘Factors such as food, drink, and diseases can affect body odor. An individual’s body odor is also influenced by lifestyle, sex, genetics, and medication’.
Doing a research on the Internet I found several articles claiming that medication, among other causes such as food, hormonal changes and genetics, can affect the way our body smells.
That makes my theory more concrete to me, but maybe after all it is the medication that provokes the body odour and not solely the psychological issues.
Then I also came across this: Body odor is present both in animals and humans and its intensity can be influenced by many factors (behavioral patterns, survival strategies). Body odor has a strong genetic basis both in animals and humans, but it can be also strongly influenced by various diseases and psychological conditions.
So, we have the proof! If psychological conditions play a role to the odour our body produces, then our feelings ‐our mood ‐ are one of the major factors responsible for it.
Do you think my theory is correct? I would love to read your opinion.
The world around me makes me notice small details and build my own theories.
Let me reveal my theories and prove me right!