{"id":2027,"date":"2012-07-31T11:06:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T15:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hnetalk.com\/?p=2027"},"modified":"2012-07-31T11:06:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T15:06:15","slug":"the-nose-knows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/2012\/07\/31\/the-nose-knows\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nose Knows"},"content":{"rendered":"

My husband and I are celebrating our 13 year wedding anniversary this month.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good chunk of time, right? \u00a0The odds were totally against us, though.\u00a0 At least, that\u2019s what everyone said when we got together.\u00a0 They said it was \u201ctoo soon\u201d and pointed out that I was coming off of a marriage and he had just ended an engagement.\u00a0 They said it was \u201ctoo complicated\u201d because I had two kids under the age of 10 and he was a man in his 30\u2019s that thought he\u2019d never have children. They said \u201cit\u2019s not auspicious\u201d because I\u2019m a Virgo, he\u2019s a Sagittarius \u2013 which is bad, I\u2019m sure you know.\u00a0 (Look, as a product of the 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s this weighed in my decision! I am who I am.)\u00a0 And they said, \u201cYour MBTI\u2019<\/a>s aren\u2019t compatible!\u201d\u00a0 (I just made that up. I mean, they aren\u2019t, but no one said that.\u00a0\u00a0 But, he is\u00a0an extrovert and I am\u00a0an introvert…so, you know, all that stuff was there. )\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But here we are \u2013 13 years and I love<\/em> him! \u00a0Nay, I adore <\/em>him!\u00a0 The sun rises and sets on him! \u00a0Ok, fine, I\u2019ll stop.\u00a0 Still, what was it? What IS it?\u00a0 Why us?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apparently, it\u2019s a simple chemical reaction in my subconscious mind – it\u2019s his smell.\u00a0 And mine.\u00a0 We like how each other smells.\u00a0 That\u2019s all there is to it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t believe me? \u00a0Read this:<\/p>\n

According to an article in Psychology Today, , \u201cWe might say we go for partners who are tall and thin, love to cook, or have a mania for exercise, but when push comes to shove, studies show, the people we actually end up with possess few of the traits we claim to want. Some researchers think scent could be the hidden cosmological constant in the sexual universe, the missing factor that explains who we end up with. It may even explain why we feel “chemistry”\u2014or “sparks” or “electricity”\u2014with one person and not with another.\u201d Elizabeth Svoboda, The Science of Scent, Psychology Today, 2008<\/a><\/p>\n

“This is not something that jumps out at you, like smelling a good steak cooking on the grill,” says Randy Thornhill, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico, in that same article. “But the scent capability is there, and it’s not surprising to find smell capacity in the context of [physical attraction].”<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how we find ourselves drooling over the wine steward helping us pick out the perfect Shiraz, but have no idea why \u2014or, conversely, find ourselves put off by potential dating partners even though they seem perfect on eHarmony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though we may be partially unaware to scent signals we’re sending and receiving, new research says that we not only come equipped to choose a romantic partner who smells good to us, but that this choice has *huge* biological implications. Thornhill continues to say, \u201cAs we act out the complex rituals of courtship, many of them inscribed deep in our brain, scent-based cues help us zero in on optimal partners\u2014the ones most likely to stay faithful to us and to create healthy children with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

I know, I know – at first, the idea of scent-based attraction might seem like just random idea or short-lived, but he also says, \u00a0\u201cWhen we unknowingly interfere with the transmission of subtle olfactory (scent) messages operating below the level of conscious awareness, the results can be both concrete and devastating\u2026 When we disregard what our noses tell us, we can find ourselves mired in partnerships that breed discontent, infertility, and even\u2014in extreme cases\u2014unhealthy offspring.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He explains that we choose partners based on smell because we need to and are able to identify genetic opposites to ourselves, to produce the healthiest children.\u00a0 But women on the pill, who are in a hormonally induced state of pregnancy at all times, instead of picking genetic opposites, pick instead genetic matches. Thus they are likely to pick a mate that is not conducive to producing healthy children.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, physical attraction itself may literally be based on smell! Ok, question here:\u00a0 How does that work in a society that hates the human smell?\u00a0 You think I\u2019m exaggerating here?\u00a0 Let\u2019s list the fragrance loaded products we use in America:\u00a0 deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, shaving cream, after shave, perfume, cologne, body spray, laundry detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets\u2026all in an effort to prevent each other from smelling what we really smell like!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my advice: \u00a0if you\u2019re on the prowl for your life\u2019s partner and you want to have some babies with them someday, go off the pill (ladies) and stop using deodorant and fragrances all over yourself (ladies and gentlemen.)\u00a0 Those who can stand your stench (or left standing, as the case may be), might be your perfect match!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

PSH:\u00a0 (Personal Spice Hypothesis) Someone should do a study to see if the use of birth control pills during courtship and marriage is related to the divorce rate in those couples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My husband and I are celebrating our 13 year wedding anniversary this month.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good chunk of time, right? \u00a0The odds were totally against us, though.\u00a0 At least, that\u2019s what everyone said when we got together.\u00a0 They said it was \u201ctoo soon\u201d and pointed out that I was coming off of a marriage and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,19,1],"tags":[90,91,100,110,111,116],"class_list":["post-2027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-health-care-educational-series","category-mind-body-and-spirit","category-uncategorized","tag-human-odor","tag-human-smell","tag-odor","tag-scent","tag-sexuality","tag-smell"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZxW-wH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}