Recent studies show that women use their sense of smell when picking a mate. We can tell from the scent of a man’s sweat whether or not he is interested in us. There are no differences in the nasal receptors between men and women nor is the structure of our nose different. So what gives?
When a woman is using her sense of smell a larger part of the brain is activated than that of a mans. A recent experiment was conducted where six women smelt the underarms of thirty-two men. Fragrances were applied to those same thirty-two men and only two of the fragrances actually covered up the men’s underarm smell. The same was conducted amongst six men, nineteen of the fragrances covered up the ladies natural scent and the men could not identify the women.
The fact is, it maybe linked back to our biological make-up. Another study was conducted where women that were in serious relationships could identify their men by smell, but could not identify their male friends by scent. The boyfriends and male friends of the subjects were asked if they would sleep in the same room, in the same shirts for seven days. They also had cotton pads under their arms to absorb any sweat. After being separated from their boyfriends for a week, they were asked if they could pick out the shirt of their lovers and of their friends, which were mixed amongst strangers shirts. The women were able to pick out their boyfriends shirts and not the shirts of their male friends.
This theory is called deflection. A theory that if a woman is in love she loses her ability to focus on giving attention to other suitors.
So, maybe stopping to smell the roses isn’t such a bad idea after all. Maybe modern sciences will crush the age old saying of “follow your heart,” because after all, you may just have to follow your nose.