Dermatologist Shereene Idriss explains why stress sweat smells worse than workout sweat. Apocrine glands in your armpits release fatty, protein-rich fluid that bacteria turn into body odor, and they activate during anxiety, attraction, or stress. Humans can actually detect chemical cues from others' stress sweat, making anxiety contagious.
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Have you ever noticed that nervous sweat smells way worse than the sweat that you sweat when you go to the gym? That is because your armpits, my friend, are not just trying to cool you down, they are trying to communicate with other humans around you. I am being dead serious. Hello! If you can't see me, smell me. Humans have two types of sweat glands. We have eccrine sweat glands all over our bodies that release a watery type of sweat. That is our AC system, cool down system. We also have ones that are hiding in our armpits that are a completely different kind of sweat gland, and those are known as apocrine, apocrine, tomato, tomato, whatever, sweat glands. And the type of sweat released from this gland is both rich in fat and protein. This sweat, when it's released from the gland, the sweat itself is odorless. The second it comes into contact with the bacteria on the surface of your skin, it starts to break down that bacteria into odor molecules very specific to you, giving you your very distinct musk. And Here is where it gets really bizarro. Those particular glands get super active when you are in a high emotional state, anxious, stressed, nervous, physically attracted to someone, trying to be a peacock, attracting your mate. Your armpits are like an emotional broadcast system. Hello, if you can't see me, smell me. Scientists have found that humans can actually feel, it's crazy, chemical signals from other people's stress sweat. So when they say that your anxiety feels contagious, well, it's not just a saying. And as a dermatologist, that's what makes Botox fascinating, because Botox itself is not going to stop your anxiety. It's not going to dull your emotional response or your physical attraction to anyone. Botox is going to calm the nerve signal that is feeding these sweat glands to release the acetylcholine so that that sweat can come up to the surface of your skin and start breaking down that bacteria into the body odor of your nightmare. Oh, your heart can still race, your palms are still super clammy, and you can still be completely freaking out inside, but your pits, they are no longer going to be telling everybody about how you're feeling on the inside, and you can appear cool, calm, collected, and stink-free. So the next time someone tells you not to sweat it and you haven't Botoxed your pits, just remember, your armpits may have already sent the memo.
