Maybe it shouldn’t surprise us that there are still things about the human brain, body, and instincts that happen without us fully realizing it. After all, most of us don’t know or understand half of what goes on in our bodies – and we don’t need to in order for them to work properly.

One of those things, apparently, is our nose’s ability to pick up on an eligible mate.

According to a recent study, single men stink more than men in committed relationships.

It’s not just because they shower less or don’t have someone else buying their product, either – they actually tend to have higher testosterone levels, too. Researchers believe this is to aid them in s**ual competition for available mates.

They think that testosterone levels could decrease in mated males in order to facilitate their ability to bond well with their spouses and/or children.

For this study, researchers had 91 men wear a plain white t-shirt for a day. They were all instructed to engage in moderate exercise to ensure “significant amount” of sweat was absorbed into the t-shirt.

82 heterosexual women were then asked to sniff the armpits of said t-shirts (I hope there was some kind of compensation for this study) while viewing a photo of the man who had worn it.

The results turned out mostly as the researchers had hypothesized.

“Consistent with our hypothesis, single men’s BO was rated as smelling stronger than the BO of partnered men.

We also found that single men’s faces were rated as more masculine than partnered men’s faces, but only among partnered women.”

So apparently, being a bit stinky actually attracts women instead of the opposite.

“From an evolutionary perspective, it may be advantageous for women to be able to detect the chemosignals that connote coupledom and ultimately avoid courting partnered males (especially with offspring) due to the relatively reduced resources they can offer.”

That said, the women in the study did not necessarily rate the single men’s fragrances sexier or more attractive than partnered men’s, and only partnered women found the faces of partnered men more trustworthy and loyal.

So, it would seem that having a strong smell doesn’t necessarily make finding a mate any easier.

“Evidence for this assertion comes from research showing single men have poorer physical and mental health outcomes than partnered men which may manifest in poorer hygiene and therefore BO.”

Which is to say, they may just not shower as often.

I suppose we have to take every possibility into account.