A study from the University of British Columbia, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found that the scent of a partner’s worn clothes lowers cortisol levels—a stress hormone—and helps ease loneliness. The research involved 96 heterosexual couples.
Testing Partner vs. Stranger Scents Under Stress
In the study, men wore T-shirts for 24 hours without using any products that might change their natural scent. The researchers froze the shirts and gave them to women to smell: some received their partner’s, while others received a stranger’s. Participants also completed stressful tasks and provided saliva samples to measure cortisol levels.
The findings revealed that women who smelled their partner’s clothing experienced reduced stress and less loneliness, particularly when they recognized the scent. In contrast, those who smelled a stranger’s clothing showed higher cortisol levels. The study suggests that keeping a partner’s clothing nearby may be a simple yet effective way to ease stress and reinforce emotional connection, even when apart.
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