Scientists Discover Secret Sex Nerve: Looking for a Perfect Match? Research Says To Follow Your Nose

What makes us fall in love? Is it lust, mutual interests, shared life goals, or something much more intangible? Recent research suggests the latter.

Researchers have only recently discovered an olfactory nerve that they believe is the route through which pheromones are processed. Nerve “O,” as it is called, slipped under the radar for many years because it is so tiny. However, when the nerve was discovered in a whale, scientists surmised that this little nerve might be found in humans as well. And it was!

So what is the role of Nerve “O”? Nerve “O” has endings in the nasal cavity, but the fibers go directly to the sexual regions of the brain. Indeed, these endings entirely bypass the olfactory cortex! Hence we know the role of Nerve “O” is not to consciously smell, but to identify sexual cues from our potential partners.

What sexual cues do our scents give off? For one thing, we are more likely to be attracted to people whose scent is dissimilar to our own. Family members often share similar chemicals, so our attraction to differing chemical makeup suggests that sexual cues evolved to protect close family members from procreating together. On the other hand, pregnant women have been shown to be more drawn to people with similar chemical makeup, which might be due to the fact that during this crucial time, women are more apt to seek out family members than potential mates.

Research has also shown that these unconscious cues processed in Nerve “O” can make or break a relationship. Couples who have high levels of chemicals in common are more likely to encounter fertility issues, miscarriage and infidelity. The more dissimilar your and your partner’s chemical makeup, the better chance you will have at successfully procreating and staying together.

So how can you create the scent that will keep you and your partner in the land of happily ever after? Unfortunately, you can’t. Perfumes and colognes can’t fool Nerve “O” — the scents that humans and animals are attracted to are intangible and instinctive. Even the most expensive designer perfume can’t fool Mother Nature. When it comes to sexual attraction, it seems you really have to leave things in the air!

However, if you are taking a hormonal contraceptive, you might be bucking an evolutionary tide. Women who are on the pill are more likely to be attracted to men with similar chemical makeup — most likely because their bodies are fooling them into believing they are pregnant, and so much like actual pregnant women, their Nerve “O” leads them to kin and not mates. So if you were on the pill when you met your mate, you might experience a diminishing attraction when you cease taking it.

Only time will tell what role Nerve “O” plays in future sex research, but one thing is for sure: When it comes to true love, follow your nose!

Dr. Laura Berman is the director of the Berman Center in Chicago, a specialized health care facility dedicated to helping women and couples find fulfilling sex lives and enriched relationships. She is also an assistant clinical professor of OB-GYN and psychiatry at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. She has been working as a sex educator, researcher and therapist for 18 years.

Love At First Scent? Research Shows a Woman's Sense of Smell Can Lead Her To Mr Right

Love At First Scent? Research Shows a Woman's Sense of Smell Can Lead Her To Mr Right

Wondering if he’s “the one”? Forget love at first sight and focus on love at first scent.

You know how a chance whiff of an old lover’s perfume or cologne can send you right back into the agony and the ecstasy of that relationship? Even more homey smells, like your favorite childhood meal, have the ability to seemingly transport you in time, back to being that little kid again. Smell is a powerful sense that goes directly to the core of our emotional brain and it plays a key role in attraction.

Fascinating research shows that a woman’s sense of smell can lead to her to Mr. Right, at least reproductively speaking. Research has shown that each of us will be attracted to people who possess a particular set of genes, known as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which play a critical role in our immune systems. Mates with dissimilar MHC genes produce healthier offspring with broad immune systems.

How do people who differ in their MHC find each other? This isn't fully understood, but we know that smell is an important cue. People appear to literally sniff out their mates. In studies, women tend to rate the scent of T-shirts worn by men with dissimilar MHCs as most attractive, whereas T-shirts worn by guys with similar MHC profiles tend to be rated as “fatherly” or “brotherly,” but not boyfriend material. This is what sexual "chemistry" is all about. We’re drawn to certain people, without quite knowing why.

In my own surveys of men and women, women rate scent much more highly than men. This makes sense evolutionarily speaking, since women carry children for nine months during pregnancy and would need to sniff out a good mate who would stick around and support them.

Many women who have satisfying sex lives claim to love the scent of their guy, while many women who have dissatisfying sex claim their guy’s scent does nothing for them, or even turns them off. When I talk to women in relationships who claim that the sexual attraction was never really there to begin with, many also say that they didn’t like, or notice, his smell.

So, ladies, ask yourself: Do you like the way he smells? Does it turn you on? Get you going?

Here are some tips to put the power of smell to work for your sex life — and maybe your future progeny. Remember, if you’re into his smell, it goes a long way toward speaking to chemistry. If you’re not, it could have a negative impact on the relationship.

• If you’re wondering if he’s the one, take a good whiff of some of his clothes — how does it make you feel? Do you think warm, fuzzy thoughts or do you think he should really do his laundry? Or, try an overnight with a favorite article of his clothing. Many women love to sleep in their husband’s shirts, wear their men’s sweatshirts and are picking up on the scent, whether it’s conscious or unconscious. Do you like to wear his stuff when he’s not around? It’s another sign along the trail to sniffing out your MHC compatibility.
  
• Take a break from the pill and use another form of birth control. Research shows that the pill may interfere with a woman’s ability to sniff out a compatible mate, since it tricks the body into thinking she’s already pregnant. Some researchers suggest that if you’re single, you should forgo the pill until you’re sure you’ve met your match. Try another form of birth control and see if some scent-awareness appears.
  
• Try some scent-sational aphrodisiacs. A study conducted by the Smell and Taste Research Foundation in Chicago uncovered some powerful smells for boosting his arousal. The scent of lavender and pumpkin pie, and donuts and black licorice, in particular, increased blood flow to the penis by nearly 40 percent! So turn up the volume on an attraction that’s already there with some strategic baking or candles on your next date night at home.
  
• Smell-train your man. Men may not have as keen a sense of smell as women, but it’s still a sense that’s often neglected. One female patient told me that she had a secret. Whenever her husband wanted to have sex, she would go freshen up and put on some perfume. He had become so used to the association of that scent and sex, that when she was in the mood, all she had to do was put some on and he wanted to have sex.
  
• Scent can help fuel the flames of desire — and cool the flames of conflict. When you’re fighting, take a break to “hug and smell” — 20-second hugs raise oxytocin levels (the feel-good chemical) and following your nose will help you put the tension behind you.

So what’s the lesson, ladies? Follow your nose, it always knows!

Ian Kerner is a sex therapist, relationship counselor and New York Times best-selling author of numerous books, including the recently published “Sex Detox: A Program to Detoxify and Rejuvenate Your Love Life.” He was born and raised in New York City, where he lives with his wife, two young sons and plump Jack Russell terrier.