Happiness is in the air, literally

If you were to send one last message to a loved one of what you were feeling, but for some reason, could not write, draw or record your own voice, how would you send that one last important message? Count on a bottle.

Or any sealed container because that vessel would have to hold the whiff of that happiness you felt, long enough to be sniffed by your loved one.  Yes, apparently, when we are afraid, disgusted or happy, we emit chemical signals that could be smelled by other people.

Inspired by evidence that attraction could be induced by scents emitted by our bodies, scientists wanted to see if basic emotions like fear and disgust are also accompanied by chemical signals from our bodies. This is a big deal because when feelings take the form of chemical signals, the persons who receive these signals  “decode” them and feel them for themselves. 

In 2012, researchers designed an experiment where they indeed provided evidence that we send chemical signals when we are scared or disgusted. This I think, could partly explain the hysteria when an enclosed area is set-up to scare people. When people feel afraid, they emit chemicals into the air which other people in the room inhale which also makes them afraid. It would make sense that it then becomes difficult to convince a room full of people all inhaling the same “fear” signals that there is really nothing to be afraid of. The creepy visuals are already there, with matching audio and then there is the unseen but powerful molecules in the air to seal the whole fear caboodle.

Now a recent study, basically by the same group of researchers, tried to see if happy feelings also emitted chemical signals. They had males emitting the signals and females receiving them. This is because scientists have also known for a while now from evidence that men give off more chemical signals than women but that women, on the other hand, are able to receive signals better than men. (Hmmm, this may explain the puzzling failure rate of men to “get it” when women are trying to explain to the men how they feel, despite the visual and auditory cues.)

The study had males, wearing underarm pads, watch happy, scary, or neutral videos. The pads collected the sweat of these men under those conditions. Then the women were later asked to smell these pads. Indeed, the “happy sweat” elicited a happy feeling from the women. 

But how did the researchers know that the women were genuinely feeling happy upon smelling the “happiness” pads? The women exhibited a smile that could not be faked.

Scientists call this the “Duchenne smile”, named after the French anatomist who described the facial muscles that get to work when the smile was inspired by a genuine cause for joy or one that you are obligated to perform. This was quite fascinating to me – that the muscle for genuine joy involves a soft tug at the corner of the eyes, forming rays on the skin. These same muscles could not be ordered to move without the nudges of felt joy.

The power of smell is no longer new to us. But the knowledge that how we feel do not just spread through our own words, sounds and images but also through invisible floating molecules in the air that our bodies emit? Now that is the ultimate internet of beings – wired in practically every sense. 

Apparently, when we are afraid, digusted or happy, we just could not contain ourselves – literally. We spill out into the world. We are naturally wired to go out of ourselves that even our own emotional chemicals tiptoe out of our pores into another being’s nose to suffuse them with those same feelings.

I have observed that most often, when people talk about their feelings, they think their bodies have a minor role to play in their emotional lives. You say “I just feel this way and I don’t think science has anything to do with it” unaware that in all dimensions of your life, including your own body, science already has you. This is one of those findings where biology scores major points in convincing the non-scientist that even if you do not have an interest in biology, biology owns major shares in the corporation that is you.

So what about that last message? One day in the near future, words and images may just be among the options to tell someone how you feel. You may just send him or her the new SMS – “Short Message to Smell.” – Rappler.com