--- title: Armpit Odor: Happy Sweat Can Convey Feelings of Happiness description: Women showed more signs of happiness when they sniffed sweat made by happy men than sweat of men in a neutral emotional state. canonical: https://time.com/3826678/happy-sweat-people/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-17T20:48:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:29:05.717Z article:section: Health og:title: The Smell of Your Sweat Can Make People Happy og:description: Women showed more signs of happiness when they sniffed sweat made by happy men than sweat of men in a neutral emotional state. og:url: https://time.com/3826678/happy-sweat-people/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926729fcd42ba4bf/6987ebb18e06017d8845e30b/sweat-exercise.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: sweat exercise og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Smell of Your Sweat Can Make People Happy twitter:description: Women showed more signs of happiness when they sniffed sweat made by happy men than sweat of men in a neutral emotional state. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926729fcd42ba4bf/6987ebb18e06017d8845e30b/sweat-exercise.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Smell of Your Sweat Can Make Other People Happy  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 17, 2015 8:48 PM UTC  Woman with yoga mat talking to men in gymnasium Woman with yoga mat talking to men in gymnasiumGetty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Apr 17, 2015 8:48 PM UTC People seem to be able to send happy vibes through their sweat, according to a new [study](http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/10/0956797614566318.abstract) in _Psychological Science_. The study found that women showed more signs of happiness when they sniffed sweat made by happy men than when they smelled sweat generated by 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 the emotional state,” said study author Gün Semin, a professor at Utrecht University, in a statement. “Somebody who is happy will infuse others in their vicinity with happiness.” **MORE**: [What Pheromones Really Reveal About Your Love Life](http://time.com/3707071/pheromones-love-life/) Determining how sweat affects the happiness of the people who smell it required some unusual experiments. Researchers showed film clips to a group of 12 men that inspired either fear or happiness. A control group of men was shown neutral scenes. After screening the clips, researchers collected sweat samples from the men by placing pads in their armpits and asked 36 women to smell a vial with the scent of the pads. Researchers measured the facial expression prompted by each sweat sample. Women smiled more when they smelled the sweat of happy men than sweat made after men watched a neutral video clip. The study is small and more research is needed. Previous research has shown that chemosignaling—or conveying emotion through smell—can inspire negative emotions in others, but these findings show that smells might be able to inspire happy emotions, too. _Read next:_ [_6 Signs You’re Not Working Out Hard Enough_](http://time.com/3653968/hard-workout/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) Armpit Odor: Happy Sweat Can Convey Feelings of Happiness ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3826678/happy-sweat-people/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3826678/happy-sweat-people/"},"headline":"The Smell of Your Sweat Can Make Other People Happy","datePublished":"2015-04-17T20:48:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:29:05.717Z","description":"Another reason happiness might be contagious","url":"https://time.com/3826678/happy-sweat-people/","keywords":["Mental Health/Psychology","Exercise","Happiness"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926729fcd42ba4bf/6987ebb18e06017d8845e30b/sweat-exercise.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926729fcd42ba4bf/6987ebb18e06017d8845e30b/sweat-exercise.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"sweat exercise","caption":"sweat exercise","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-healthpsychology/","name":"Mental Health/Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3826678/happy-sweat-people/","name":"The Smell of Your Sweat Can Make Other People Happy"}}]}] ```