Yes, you read it right. Anxiety and depression can change the body odor of a stressed person.

In this new study, researchers took samples of participants’ breath and perspiration before and after they were asked to solve a challenging mathematical problem. They rated their own levels of stress before and after the task, and researchers used only those whose blood pressure and heart rate spiked.

Scientists, in this study, trained dogs to find the right sample by searching a line-up of scents. The samples from under stress and under relaxation were then combined, although at this point the researchers were unsure if the dogs could identify a difference in odor.

Each dog in every test received samples from one person who was both relaxed and under stress, taken just four minutes apart. Each dog was able to notify the researchers to the stress sample of each individual.

The results, as explained by Clara Wilson, demonstrate “that we, as humans, produce different smells through our sweat and breath when we are stressed,” and surprisingly, they show that “dogs can tell this apart from our smell when relaxed — even if it is someone they do not know.”

The study shows that canines can detect human tension without visual or audio cues. 

 “This is the first study of its kind,” adds Wilson, “and it provides evidence that dogs can smell stress from breath and sweat alone, which could be useful when training service dogs and therapy dogs.

“It also helps to shed more light on the human-dog relationship and adds to our understanding of how dogs may interpret and interact with human psychological states.”

Treo, a two-year-old Cocker Spaniel, was one of the super-sniffing dogs who participated in the study. His owner, Helen Parks, comments, “As the owner of a dog that thrives on sniffing, we were delighted and curious to see Treo take part in the study. We couldn’t wait to hear the results each week when we collected him. He was always so excited to see the researchers at Queen’s and could find his own way to the laboratory .

“The study made us more aware of a dog’s ability to use their nose to “see” the world. We believe this study really developed Treo’s ability to sense a change in emotion at home. The study reinforced for us that dogs are highly sensitive and intuitive animals and there is immense value in using what they do best — sniffing!”

The study’s results were published in the journal PLOS ONE. Clara Wilson, a PhD researcher, and Kerry Campbell, an MSc candidate, conducted the study at the School of Psychology. Catherine Reeve oversaw the team, and Zachary Petzel helped with the human physiological data.

Source: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274143

Image Credit: Getty

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