Sweat may give off stress signals, study says
Sweat may give off stress signals, study says
If you’re working in a stressful environment, you and your colleagues may be communicating tension to one another without even realizing it.
A new study published in the online journal PLoS One reveals changes in brain activity when people are exposed to sweat from others who have been in a stressful situation. Researchers found that people may become more alert to potential threats when inhaling this “stress” sweat.
“The results suggest that we can detect others’ stress just by breathing in their sweat,” said Lilianne Mujica-Parodi, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Stony Brook University in New York and lead author of the study, in an e-mail.
You Smell of Stress…………
Oh dude, your Stress Sweat stinkssss!
Oh gee, if you did not have enough to worry about, now your sweat may give off a smell telling that you are stressed out. Actually, that is not a new notion. Sweat odor can indicate sickness and sweat can betray a poor diet. Now your co-workers can smell that you are stressed out. This is not a bad thing. It can be a good way for managers to know that stress level of their workers needs to be lowered. It can be good feedback from your body alerting you that the pressure is having a negative effect on your body.
It is very important to pay attention to the feedback from your body. If you ignore it, then your body may suffer much more traumatic damage than just smelling bad. You can even risk giving feedback to a loved on or coworker that their body smell indicates something is wrong.
Masking stress sweat with deodorant – that might work on the short term but your body needs help in reducing the pressure and anxiety.
- Take short 5 minute stress breaks.
- Do a hot tub at home right after work.
- Go for a long walk in the park or on the beach.
- Eat somewhere fun and different.
- Invite new friends to go bowling or go to a movie.
Learn a new relaxation skill. We have a series of 6 different ways to deeply relax. The Stress Control Series will help you learn to relax and smell better ……… haha
Dr Tim Lowenstein (c) 2009 All Rights Reserved Contact
Dr Tim for permission to reprint. info@stressmarket.com 
