Do you wear your boyfriend’s clothes? Here’s good news
There is something about the comfort of wearing a loved ones’ clothes and if you are someone who likes donning your boyfriend’s clothes—especially his shirts, t-shirts or hoodies—here’s a piece of good news for you. According to a research, wearing your boyfriend’s clothes can reduce mental stress.
It also reduces loneliness and anxiety
In case, you suffer from pangs of anxiety and loneliness frequently, you can try wearing your boyfriend’s clothes. According to researchers at the University of British Columbia, wearing anything that carries a partner’s scent helps in reducing stress, loneliness and anxiety.
More about the studies
The researchers choose random women and assigned them to smell one of three scents—that of a stranger, their boyfriend or a neutral scent. Before giving the women their partner’s clothes, the men were made to wear the same apparel for 24 hours so that they left behind a strong trail of their scent.
Recorded lower level of stress
After smelling the shirts, the participants were made to undergo a mock job interview and do mental math task; this was done with the intention to raise the participants’ stress levels. When the researchers recorded the stress and cortisol levels of the participants, interestingly, the women who were given the clothes bearing their partner’s scents showed lower stress levels. Whereas, women who smelt the t-shirt worn by a random stranger were more stressed than the rest.
Why people sleep on their partner’s side of the bed
“Many people wear their partner’s shirt or sleep on their partner’s side of the bed when their partner is away, but may not realize why they engage in these behaviours. Our findings suggest that a partner’s scent alone, even without their physical presence, can be a powerful tool to help reduce stress,” lead study author Marlise Hofer said in a statement. The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
It will help people cope with stressful situations
According to the researchers, these findings can be of great help for people to cope with stressful situations. “With globalization, people are increasingly travelling for work and moving to new cities. Our research suggests that something as simple as taking an article of clothing that was worn by your loved one could help lower stress levels when you’re far from home,” senior study author Frances Chen said in a statement.
source: Times of India
