Body odours added no clear anxiety benefit to brief mindfulness sessions
A pilot study in women with social anxiety found no significant difference in anxiety change, even though those exposed to body odours rated the practice as more helpful.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Adding body odours did not produce a statistically significant difference in how state anxiety changed during the brief study. Participants exposed to odours nevertheless rated mindfulness as more helpful. These outcomes answer different questions: feeling that a session is helpful does not establish that it reduces anxiety symptoms more than the control condition.
This pilot had a limited sample and very brief exposure. The nonsignificant result leaves uncertainty about possible effects; it does not establish equivalence between odour exposure and clean air.
What researchers found
State anxiety change
Body-odour conditions versus clean air during mindfulness across 2 consecutive days; the odour-by-time analysis did not support different anxiety trajectories.
The main hypothesis
The researchers tested whether emotional body odours would steepen the drop in anxiety during meditation. The primary statistical test did not support this hypothesis, despite some exploratory estimates favoring fear-related odours.
Helpfulness and symptom change
Participants' ratings of helpfulness favored the odour conditions, but the anxiety result remained inconclusive. The abstract provides no evidence that any change persisted beyond the study's short observation period.
The original publication
A quasi-randomised pilot study on the efficacy and perceived usefulness of adding chemosignals to mindfulness practice for women with social anxiety.
Eliasson ET, Vigna E, Dal Bò E et al.
Sci Rep · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40940516
- Record checked
AI-assisted research and writing. This explains one selected publication; it is not a complete review of everything known. Our approach.
One more question, understood.
Keep track of the research you’ve explored.