Feeling Lonely? Give Your Sweetie's T-Shirt a Sniff

Men, women report snuggling with clothing

By Sarah Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 7, 2009 3:17 PM CST

(Newser) – Both men and women cuddle with and smell their loved ones' clothing when they can't be together, MSNBC reports. "When I was going through high school and college, I would wear a boyfriend’s shirt to bed," said the author of a new study on how scent evokes memory. Three-quarters of women and two-thirds of men report doing the same.

Most of the study's clothes-sniffers sought the scent of romantic partners, but a few said they smell the clothing of their children or other relatives. Scientists have long recognized a link between scent and sentiment. “The part of the brain that processes odor flows right into the part of the brain that is involved in emotion and memory,” a psychologist said.

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As many as three-fourths of women and two-thirds of men say they snuggle with shirts and other clothing worn by a loved one, researchers reported. (Index Open)

"We detect a scent and immediately feel something," said a clinical psychiatry professor. (Index Open)

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Scents really pull us in, in a way that may not be consciously apparent. We detect a scent and immediately feel something. - Philip R. Muskin, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University

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Feeling Lonely? Give Your Sweetie's T-Shirt a Sniff