What are Pheromones?

What are Pheromones?

Pheromones are most commonly thought of as scents that animals give off that will lure a potential mate to them, or scare a potential threat away. Humans also seem to produce these scents naturally. The detection of pheromones, however, is where the problem lies. Scientists have had difficulty finding an area of the brain that detects the pheromones secreted by others. This may be the explanation for why human pheromones are believed to not exist or cause a reaction for humans.

A study from the Huddinge University Hospital in Sweden sheds some light on the truth of this conundrum. In the experiment, Ivanka Savic found that smelling synthetic versions of either testosterone or estrogen led to an increase in blood flow to the hypothalamus. The men showed an increase when smelling estrogen and women when smelling testosterone, but neither had a reaction when smelling the scent of the same gender. The hypothalamus is the region of the brain in rodents and other animals that are involved with pheromone detection.

The gender-specific reactions to the hormones suggest that there is a reaction by humans to pheromones, especially since this reaction is in the same area of the brain that other animals use for pheromone detection.

What does this mean? It means that human pheromones really exist and that it doesn't come from the bottle, but naturally from the body. When someone is looking for that “special someone” they may find it in someone who has pheromones that appeal to them, but since human’s sense of smell is not terribly acute, the special someone will hopefully have many other enticing characteristics than just smelling nice!