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Those Fabulous Pheromones
by Christy Brownlee, 04.16.03
What's that in the air? Could it possibly be love? Right now, scientists are studying chemicals called pheromones that may help contribute to whom you find attractive, whom you want to spend time with, and whom you might eventually fall in love with. You're not consciously aware of pheromones — they don't have a scent that you can notice. But your brain knows that pheromones are there. And your body reacts to the ones it likes.
It's the Pits!
The whole thing starts deep down in a place you'd never suspect sexual desire comes from — your armpits! Glands there produce chemicals that hover on your skin and waft through the air unnoticed. Eventually, pheromones in those chemicals find their way to a special organ in the nose, the vomeronasal organ, or the VMO.
The VMO is right on the divider that separates your nostrils, and it looks like a tiny pit on each side. The VMO is connected to the brain. When it gets a dose of the right pheromones, the VMO tells the brain to put out more hormones that can turn you on and affect your sexual behavior.
It All Makes "Scents"
What can pheromones do? Scientists aren't exactly sure how they work in humans, but the pheromones of other animals help them distinguish females from males, signal when it's time to mate, and attract same and opposite sex partners to one anther.
Studies have shown that humans' pheromones may work in similar ways. For example, men who sniffed T-shirts worn by women who are ovulating — the part of the menstrual cycle when they're most likely to get pregnant — found the scent more pleasant and sexy than the smell of a women in a less fertile stages. Women with irregular menstrual cycles who took a whiff of male sweat several times a week found their cycles grow closer to an average, regular length.
Pheromones may also help members of the same sex communicate incognito. The pheromones of women living together can cue them to synchronize their menstrual cycles. And a study just released demonstrates that pheromones in male perspiration reduce tension in women, putting them in better moods.
Inde[s]cent Proposal
If pheromones can help you seem sexier to that cute thing you've had your eye on, then why not add a little more? Although the Internet is full of ads that promise more dates with a dab of pheromone cologne, watch out — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Chances are good that these scents won't get you any more dates than a couple swipes of your favorite deodorant or a squirt or two of regular perfume.
Why don't they work? For starters, they cover the natural pheromones designed to make us attractive. Humans may not respond to pheromones as strongly as other animals do. Many of our old instincts have declined, and pheromones are not as primary in the way we communicate sexual interest as they are in dogs, for example, who are all about scent.
Secondly, the amount of pheromones your body makes also happens to be as much as the VMO can handle! Any extra pheromones that get inside don't get noticed.
Finally, people choose who they date based on many different reasons — not just odorific attraction. Factors like personality, values, intelligence, appearance, and common sense seem as important to people as their pheromones.
But if you're ever surprised to find that you're turned on by someone who doesn't seem to be your type at all, it could be the pheromones! |
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