New research
ties cortisol levels to facial attractiveness.
By Sally
Wadyka May 23, 2013 9:01PM
I know I must be seriously
stressed out when my husband comes up and starts trying to massage away the
angry-looking furrow between my eyebrows. (Thanks, honey, but I’m afraid only
Botox will really make that vanish at this point.) What I didn’t know is that
-- despite the many claims to the contrary I’m sure he would make -- he might
also find me less attractive when I’m under such duress.
Or at least that’s what a new study would lead me to believe.
Or at least that’s what a new study would lead me to believe.
Researchers in Finland found that as women’s levels of the stress hormone
cortisol go up, the ratings of their facial attractiveness go down. In the
study, they photographed the faces of 52 women during fertile times in their
menstrual cycle. They also drew blood a month before and a month after
administering hepatitis B vaccinations to all of the women, in order to measure
immune response. And measured their body
fat percentages.
Then a group of men was asked to rate the photos of the women’s faces on a scale of 0 to 11 based on how attractive they found them. Unlike previous studies that found a link between men with a stronger immune response and attractiveness, this study saw no connection between women’s immunity and men’s ratings of their attractiveness. Body fat did play a role, but maybe not what you’d think. The fattest women were seen as the least attractive, but so were the thinnest ones.
But the most interesting finding was that the women with the lowest levels of the stress hormone cortisol were consistently judged to be the most attractive.
Researchers suspect that because both stress and weight can have an effect on fertility, they also affected the men’s ratings of the women’s attractiveness.
So if the bottom line is that being more relaxed is going to make you hotter, I really think that everyone who’s trying to sell us on the health benefits of stress-reduction techniques is missing out on a brilliant marketing opportunity. Just think how many more people would show up if you told them, “Meditation makes you beautiful!”
Then a group of men was asked to rate the photos of the women’s faces on a scale of 0 to 11 based on how attractive they found them. Unlike previous studies that found a link between men with a stronger immune response and attractiveness, this study saw no connection between women’s immunity and men’s ratings of their attractiveness. Body fat did play a role, but maybe not what you’d think. The fattest women were seen as the least attractive, but so were the thinnest ones.
But the most interesting finding was that the women with the lowest levels of the stress hormone cortisol were consistently judged to be the most attractive.
Researchers suspect that because both stress and weight can have an effect on fertility, they also affected the men’s ratings of the women’s attractiveness.
So if the bottom line is that being more relaxed is going to make you hotter, I really think that everyone who’s trying to sell us on the health benefits of stress-reduction techniques is missing out on a brilliant marketing opportunity. Just think how many more people would show up if you told them, “Meditation makes you beautiful!”
Source: http://healthyliving.msn.com
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