Have you ever felt instantly at ease around someone? Do you believe in love at first sight? Pheromones may play a role in this. What is a pheromone?Pheromones are chemical messengers that are produced and eventually emitted through the body. Everyone has their own unique signature pheromone scent that is emitted through our sweat glands. Those pheromones can play a role in how others respond to us, both positively and negatively.

Hormones are produced and interact within the body. Pheromones are produced inside the body but function outside the body. They influence how others respond to us. Pheromones can influence sexual attraction, sexual repellent, mother-infant bonding and may influence the synchronization of menstrual cycles of women who interact frequently.

Human emotions can be influenced by scents within our environment that travel through the olfactory system to the limbic system. Pheromones can also influence emotions and create feelings of relaxation, pleasantness and relaxation. This may play a role in our attraction for others.

Science has shown that we are subconsciously attracted to the natural odor and pheromones of another with a different DNA makeup than ours in a way that is more likely to produce healthy offspring.

One of the best examples of the interaction of pheromones is the role in mother-infant bonding. The sense of smell is one of the first senses to develop in utero. A baby’s nose starts to form in the first trimester. The nasal cavity and chemoreceptors for smelling are ready as early as 9 weeks gestation. They are fully connected to the brain at 13 weeks. Because smells cross the amniotic fluid, by the end of the first trimester a baby can actually smell foods that mom is eating. At birth, smell is the most advanced sense. Newborns orient themselves by smell more than any other sense. When placed on a mother’s belly after birth, they will work their way up to the breast navigating by sense of smell alone. At birth, a newborn’s nose is so finely tuned that they can tell the difference between their mother’s breast milk and that of another mom!

Compared to animals, we differ greatly in how pheromones affect our behavior towards others. Humans depend more on visual cues when it comes to mate selection. Animals have a highly functioning vomeronasal organ (VNO) which detects others pheromones. In humans, the VNO has been discovered but does not function to the extent of animals.