New research suggests that sniffing body odour from other people may have a positive impact on treating social anxiety. The study involved taking armpit sweat from volunteers who watched different types of film clips, before using the samples alongside mindfulness therapy to treat social anxiety.

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The results showed that mindfulness therapy was more effective when combined with sniffing the body odour. The study involved 48 women with social anxiety, some of whom were exposed to clean air and others to body odour. Patients who completed a mindfulness session while exposed to body odours saw a 39% reduction in social anxiety, while without body odour there was a 17% reduction in anxiety scores.

The findings suggest that there may be something in human sweat that affects the response to treatment, although further research is needed to confirm this link.