--- title: Happiness: Smelling a Happy Person's Sweat Might Also Make You Happy description: Smell away canonical: https://time.com/3971913/smell-sweat-happy/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-24T21:27:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:13.822Z og:title: Smelling a Happy Person's Sweat Might Also Make You Happy og:description: Smell away og:url: https://time.com/3971913/smell-sweat-happy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3faa04ff63cf23/69885c6d428a9ef638cce561/nose-mouth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3438 og:image:height: 1934 og:image:alt: Mouth and nose close up og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Smelling a Happy Person's Sweat Might Also Make You Happy twitter:description: Smell away twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3faa04ff63cf23/69885c6d428a9ef638cce561/nose-mouth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Smelling a Happy Person's Sweat Might Also Make You Happy by [Jessie Militare / MIMI](https://time.com/author/mimi/) ## Jessie Militare / MIMI Author Jul 24, 2015 9:27 PM UTC  Mouth and nose close up. Mouth and nose close up.Getty Images by [Jessie Militare / MIMI](https://time.com/author/mimi/) ## Jessie Militare / MIMI Author Jul 24, 2015 9:27 PM UTC [_MIMI_](https://www.mimichatter.com/) _is a Time Inc. property._ Sweat can make you smile. A [new study](http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2015/07/happy-sweat-study-smell-positive) from [Utrecht University in the Netherlands](http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/10/0956797614566318.abstract) shows a happy sweaty person may be able to transfer his “feelings of happiness” onto another person. “Chemosignals,” which are excretions that elicit a physiological or behavioral response from humans, have been previously shown to incite negative emotions. The researchers wanted to know the effects of the opposite sentiment. They had 12 men watch movies that provoked feelings of fear or happiness in them, while a control group viewed neutral scenes. Underarm sweat samples were taken, and then 36 women were instructed to smell the pads. Kinda ew, but hold on. The researchers then measured facial expressions after each sniff, and found that the women smiled more when they took a whiff of the perspiration of happy men, compared to the sweat of the dudes who watched the neutral clips. “We observed that exposure to body odor collected from senders of chemosignals in a happy state induced a facial expression and perceptual-processing style indicative of happiness in the receivers of those signals,” the abstract says. Does B.O. factor into this at all? Because I can’t get cheery about that. More research is needed to establish a sound conclusion on this, but take note: if your partner or friend is sweaty (and happy), then smell away. _This_ [_article_](https://www.mimichatter.com/new-study-says-happy-sweat-may-be-able-to-make-you-feel-this-way-1263965481.html) _originally appeared on_ [_MIMI_](https://www.mimichatter.com/)_._ _More from MIMI_: * [The Cultural Origins of 5 Iconic Hairstyles](https://www.mimichatter.com/cultural-origins-hairstyles-braids-top-knot-bangs-buzz-cut-baby-hairs-1264524320.html) * [I Tried It: L’Oréal Age Perfect Cell Renewal Facial Oil](https://www.mimichatter.com/loreal-paris-age-perfect-cell-renewal-facial-oil-review-1264213755.html) * [This Woman’s Scary Cancer Story Proves Getting Skin Checks Is No Joke](https://www.mimichatter.com/scary-skin-cancer-story-proves-skin-checks-are-vital-1264020927.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3971913/smell-sweat-happy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3971913/smell-sweat-happy/"},"headline":"Smelling a Happy Person's Sweat Might Also Make You Happy","datePublished":"2015-07-24T21:27:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:13.822Z","description":"Smell away","url":"https://time.com/3971913/smell-sweat-happy/","keywords":["Living","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3faa04ff63cf23/69885c6d428a9ef638cce561/nose-mouth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessie Militare / MIMI"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3faa04ff63cf23/69885c6d428a9ef638cce561/nose-mouth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mouth and nose close up","caption":"Mouth and nose close up","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":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3971913/smell-sweat-happy/","name":"Smelling a Happy Person's Sweat Might Also Make You Happy"}}]}] ```