Guys… are you staying that far back because I smell?
It’s only been three days!
And I dry shampooed!
Hey guys, a non-smelly Amy with you on DNews today taking on a topic we’ve all dealt
with one way or another: gross stinky body odor.
Let’s start with the basic fact.
We all smell.
And it’s because of skin.
Our skin is our largest body organ, varying from person to person but on average it’s
about 21 square feet of surface area.
It’s layered to protect our delicate organs from dangerous germs and bacteria while also
keeping in moisture, basically making it an excellent barrier between our internal selves
and the outside world.
And that barrier varies in its topography and texture.
There are folds, valleys, little niches, and it’s all home to a thriving ecosystem of
bacteria.
Some of the bacteria on your skin can cause nasty infections, but other bacteria actually
fights off the bad microbes, keeping you healthy.
And that in itself is a finely tuned system; any disruption can cause skin disorders or
infections.
Skin also has loads and loads of sweat glands.
One kind are called eccrine glands and they're everywhere.
These are the ones that continually bathe our skin in a salty-watery secretion, known
as sweat, to cool us off.
They can also release fluid that acidifies the skin, keeping the growth of microorganisms
in check.
Another kind of sweat glands are the apocrine glands.
These are found mainly in notoriously sweaty and odorous areas like armpits and groins.
They respond to adrenaline and emotional stress, secreting a milky fluid that’s also thought
to contain pheromones.
So there’s a lot of fluid going on with skin, but that’s not the culprit of stink;
sweat itself is actually odourless.
The smell factors comes in because as we sweat, the moisture gets into all those skin folds
and nooks and crannies where there’s also plenty of bacteria.
And a moist, closed environment is bacteria’s happy place.
They thrive in spots like armpits, eat compounds found in sweat, and produce molecules that
we smell and know as body odor.
And there’s more to it.
Diet can affect your unique odor.
Foods high in sulphur like broccoli and cauliflower release compounds secreted in sweat that can
make you smell worse, sort of like rancid butter.
Meat also changes body odor.
One study actually found that vegetarian men’s sweat smells more appealing to women than
their meat-eating brethren’s.
Alcohol can seep out through your pores if you over imbibe, making you smell, well, like
a drunk.
But let’s say you have an average diet, don’t drink too much, and lead a pretty
standard lifestyle without engaging in especially sweaty activities.
How long until you really start to noticeably stink?
Well, it varies from person to person because no two people are the same.
But a few days without showering, deodorant, or basic washing will probably start to get
unpleasant for people around you.
But it's possible to push through the smell phase and get to a no-smell phase.
Eventually your body will settle into a happy arrangement of bacteria that keeps itself,
and your smell, in check.
Because, really, we didn't adapt to need perfumes and deodorants and body lotions…
It’s social convention that tells us to manage our natural human smell.
You know who doesn’t stink?
The team over at Source Fed!
They do pop-culture news and comedy…
so it’s like us but faster and funnier!
Click the link below to get your daily dose of the trending news!
And speaking of smelly, I’ve heard it smelled pretty bad on board the Apollo spacecraft
during missions to the Moon, not surprising when you realize they were pooping and eating
smelly things like tuna in that thing!
If you want to know more about that, check out my channel, Vintage Space, where I dig
into all kind of space oddities.
Have you ever been aware of your own smell?
Let us know in the comments below, don’t forget to like this video, and subscribe for
a new episode of DNews every day of the week.