It’s something we often take for granted but our sense of smell is an insanely important part of our everyday lives. Being able to differentiate something that smells bad from something that smells good keeps us from eating rotten food and it can even save our lives during a fire or gas leak. What’s more, without our sense of smell, we probably wouldn’t be able to taste most of the food we eat!
Besides the above uses, smell also contributes to another extremely important part of our lives. It actually affects us when we’re looking for love and relationships! Now, as weird as that sounds, it’s also totally true! Here’s why:
Smelling allows us to (unknowingly) “sniff out” who we’re most compatible with
In fact, we’re actually able to sniff out parts of another person’s DNA that make up their immune system, a.k.a. the major histocompatibility genes (MHC). Based on a study, it was found that our bodies tend to be drawn to people with a MHC composition that’s different from ours so that any future kids will have an immune system that’s able to fight off as many diseases as possible. This is also meant to prevent sexual relations between relatives (because individuals who are related by blood will most probably have a similar MHC composition).
If you do find yourself turned off by someone’s smell, it might be because both of you have a similar MHC composition, or maybe because they just smell really bad.
People actually judge you more based on smell rather than looks
According to researchers, human beings may actually fall in love at first sniff (not sight)!
How someone else smells gives us a rough clue about their personality, age, as well as how healthy or fertile they are. What’s more, the research also found that women care a great deal about how a person smells (and sounds) more than a person’s looks when searching for a partner. So boys, you know what to do!
Without even realising it, how you smell can affect your confidence greatly
And we all know how important confidence is especially during your first few dates or when you meet your potential bae!
If you’ve had a long day or you’ve been rushing around the past hour, it might be a good idea to take a quick shower or spritz on some cologne before your date. Even if you don’t smell super bad, knowing that you don’t smell great can really affect your confidence and state of mind, and people around you will pick up on that.
So if you’re in that season of your life where you’re looking for love, remember that how you smell is equally as important as how you look! And even though, at the end of the day, it’s your DNA or genes that a potential bae might be sniffing out (unknowingly), it’s still good to ensure that we smell our best because we wouldn’t want them to smell a mixture of sweat, smoke and hawker food, now do we?
Guess it’s time to invest in some good perfume!
Also read: Here’s Why Some Malaysians Smell So “Busuk” and How to Prevent it
