The weird way happiness is contagious

When people break a sweat together, it’s more than endorphins that will boost your mood.

New research in the journal Psychological Science has found that people can spread happy vibes through sweat. The strange (and kind of gross) study found that when women sniffed the sweat made by men, they showed more signs of happiness when that sweat came from a happy man, rather than sweat from men in a neutral emotional state.

“Being exposed to sweat produced under happiness induces a simulacrum of happiness in receivers, and induces a contagion of emotional state,” said study author Gun Semin, from Utrecht University. “Somebody who is happy will infuse others in their vicinity with happiness.”

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Researchers used some unconventional methods to determine how sweat can affect happiness. They showed film clips to a group of 12 men that elicited feelings of either or happiness. A control group watched neutral scenes.

After the screenings of clips, researchers collected sweat samples and asked 36 women to smell a vial with the scent of the pads. Using “facial expression data”, they found that when women smelled “fear sweat”, there was more activity in the medial frontalis muscle, part of the face most associated with fear expressions. Plus, women smiled more often when they smelled the sweat of happy men than the sweat made after men who watched a neutral video clip.

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This study is small and more research needs to be done, so you may be asking ‘what was the point?’ Other studies have revealed that we can produce chemo signals (chemical compounds) that can inspire negative feelings, but this shows it may also cause happy feelings. According to Semin, these findings may be of interest to the “odour industry” due to its potential commercial use.

Although, it's probably best not to expect a ‘sweat-scented’ fragrance any time soon.