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Unlocking the Secrets of Your Sense of Smell: Part 5

By Luke Vorstermans

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 03Feb2008 Word count: 423 Viewed: 572 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

According to the Sense of Smell Institute, women consistently outscore men with their sense of smell. Interestingly, however, it has found that a woman's ability to smell is dependent on the level of various hormones in her body. A woman's sense of smell is heightened during the first half of her menstrual cycle and peaks when she is most fertile and sexually responsive.

Women, it seems, have sensitivity to scented sex hormones, or pheromones. During ovulation, women are 10,000 times more sensitive to the scent of male hormones than during menstruation.

Women sniff out the best mates via pheromones -- the undetectable scents that drive a range of reproductive behaviors. Humans have denser skin concentrations of the scent glands that release pheromones than almost any other mammal. As a result, pheromones are slinging at least some of Cupid's arrows.

However, beware: studies have found that women on birth control pills experience hormonal changes that can interfere with this law of "scent attraction" -- leading to trouble picking the right partner and potential problems with infertility down the line. Once off the pill, some women may find they have a different "sense" about their mate.

Other studies have shown that aside from a woman's monthly cycle, her gender alone also makes her more likely to have a sharper sense of smell as female babies have a keener sense of smell than their male cohorts. Studies conducted by Dr. Hilary Schmidt reveal genetic differences in babies' responsiveness to scents appear to have their origins in infancy.

During her research, Dr. Schmidt noticed that female babies responded to scented rattles while male babies did not. However, her findings also show that male babies demonstrate a preference for pleasantly-scented rattles over those with an unpleasant scent while their female cohorts demonstrate an equal interest in both. Overall, scent—whether pleasant or unpleasant—piques the interest of female babies.

According to Dr. Schmidt's research, children do not demonstrate adult-like preferences regarding odour in their environment until they begin to see their world through adult-like eyes. At this time they begin to show preferences for pleasant fragrances over unpleasant fragrances.

Interestingly, another study reveals that not all scents produce gender-specific responses, suggesting that sex differences in olfactory prowess may be scent-dependent. However, more research is needed in this area to conclude whether a woman's menstrual cycle may play a determining factor in this occurrence. It may be that certain scents in studies done did not elicit gender-specific responses because its female subjects were menstruating.

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