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Post by samboy on Oct 27, 2014 10:09:40 GMT
No, no link to any empirical study suggesting this, but I honestly get this feeling that, maybe, just maybe, we are seeing an unusual increase in rates of people contracting what I view as body odor issues that happen to be persistent and negatively perceived by a significant number of people around them.
This speculation is based, of course, on my own observations, so it's just anecdotes at this point. But if it is true what I'm saying, then it's possible that something in the environment (which at least Westerners seem to share) may be playing a really big role in this matter. Could it be the modern Western urban lifestyle (junk food, too little physical activity, too much stress)? Something in the air?
Is it psychologically contagious via some form of nocebo effect?
I know with autism that research has been showing there seems to be an unusual increase in rates of autism that may be attributed to environmental factors during early development of the child (prenatal especially). Maybe it might be due to pollution in the air that's associated with both the unusual increase in autism and body odor disorders?
I really want to see what are some good ways to empirically test all this ...
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malisha
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Cheering 4 Oneself
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Post by malisha on Oct 27, 2014 20:32:42 GMT
No, no link to any empirical study suggesting this, but I honestly get this feeling that, maybe, just maybe, we are seeing an unusual increase in rates of people contracting what I view as body odor issues that happen to be persistent and negatively perceived by a significant number of people around them. This speculation is based, of course, on my own observations, so it's just anecdotes at this point. But if it is true what I'm saying, then it's possible that something in the environment (which at least Westerners seem to share) may be playing a really big role in this matter. Could it be the modern Western urban lifestyle (junk food, too little physical activity, too much stress)? Something in the air? Is it psychologically contagious via some form of nocebo effect? I know with autism that research has been showing there seems to be an unusual increase in rates of autism that may be attributed to environmental factors during early development of the child (prenatal especially). Maybe it might be due to pollution in the air that's associated with both the unusual increase in autism and body odor disorders? I really want to see what are some good ways to empirically test all this ... Hi samboy, Like the post.Where did you come up with this theory?
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Post by samboy on Oct 27, 2014 23:37:09 GMT
Thanks. It's not a theory, by the way. At least not in the scientific sense. This is just speculation at this point based on my observation (based on observing the continual body languages of surrounding people) that more and more people around me are being struck with the chronic body odor "flu" and me wondering what the heck is going on.
Two of my siblings ended up having this problem (years after I first got it), and at first, I thought it must be because we share a lot of our genes we inherited from our parents. Then one of my cousins got it, and I thought "maybe it's the genes", but what's strange is that he was one of the few cousins who used to constantly hang out with us. Must be coincidence, I thought.
Then last year, one of my classmates, contracted this body odor problem as well. And once very popular among the girls and with lots of friends, now has most of his friends pretty much avoid sitting next to him, and at least one teacher has tried to hint to him about the smell. Along with him, two teachers I know at my uni now have this problem.
Consequently, this has been confusing me for quite some time. And while I do NOT believe in paranormal stuff, I can't see this issue as just a genetic issue. I really suspect something in the environment is being associated with what seems to be an unusual increase in the rates of body odor disorders.
Does anyone here reading this have something to share that could shed further light on what may be going on? Maybe I'm being completely delusional and it's all in my head. That certainly is possible.
But maybe what I'm saying really is going on, and studies need to be conducted to reveal to us what is going on. I hope to get the chance eventually to start this chain of studies myself once I graduate from psychology.
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malisha
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Post by malisha on Oct 30, 2014 16:21:59 GMT
Thanks. It's not a theory, by the way. At least not in the scientific sense. This is just speculation at this point based on my observation (based on observing the continual body languages of surrounding people) that more and more people around me are being struck with the chronic body odor "flu" and me wondering what the heck is going on. Two of my siblings ended up having this problem (years after I first got it), and at first, I thought it must be because we share a lot of our genes we inherited from our parents. Then one of my cousins got it, and I thought "maybe it's the genes", but what's strange is that he was one of the few cousins who used to constantly hang out with us. Must be coincidence, I thought. Then last year, one of my classmates, contracted this body odor problem as well. And once very popular among the girls and with lots of friends, now has most of his friends pretty much avoid sitting next to him, and at least one teacher has tried to hint to him about the smell. Along with him, two teachers I know at my uni now have this problem. Consequently, this has been confusing me for quite some time. And while I do NOT believe in paranormal stuff, I can't see this issue as just a genetic issue. I really suspect something in the environment is being associated with what seems to be an unusual increase in the rates of body odor disorders. Does anyone here reading this have something to share that could shed further light on what may be going on? Maybe I'm being completely delusional and it's all in my head. That certainly is possible. But maybe what I'm saying really is going on, and studies need to be conducted to reveal to us what is going on. I hope to get the chance eventually to start this chain of studies myself once I graduate from psychology. Congrats on your studies! I'm glad you're doing well for your self. As for what you were talking about before. There are such things as demonic spirits/ paranormal presence that walks the earth that we live in.Which goes back to what you believe in or not.Also for what you were saying about others such as a cousin,teacher,and a classmate all contracting and showing some of the same symptoms is kinda on the strange side. If bo was contracted from us simply being in the presence of others then everyone would have it. I'm not sure of how to explain this,but it sure sounds far fetched.What I do believe to be true is that everything we use in the world from foods,to drinks, soaps,detergents, everything that has been created by man has harmed the natural process of the average person.Which is harsh chemicals.I'm no expert and don't pretend to be,but I've always been told that many yrs and century ago that we as people lived long because of the natural grains that came from the earth.The good stuff that wasn't tantilized with toxins to stretch what was once good to make a quick buck. This is what I believe.
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Post by samboy on Oct 31, 2014 12:16:28 GMT
Well, not everyone would have it unconditionally. Obviously, this isn't the case. However, it could be the case that there are certain traits (psychological/biological/environmental) that might increase the likelihood of someone "contracting" this body odor problem from someone else. Yeah, it's a strange one, but then again, there are a lot of well-documented strange phenomena that psychologists are still trying to understand (placebo effect, nocebo effect, or even the nature of consciousness itself). By the way, did you know obsesity itself is socially contagious? Check this out: www.livescience.com/4542-study-obesity-socially-contagious.html
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malisha
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Cheering 4 Oneself
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Post by malisha on Nov 1, 2014 14:39:39 GMT
Well, not everyone would have it unconditionally. Obviously, this isn't the case. However, it could be the case that there are certain traits (psychological/biological/environmental) that might increase the likelihood of someone "contracting" this body odor problem from someone else. Yeah, it's a strange one, but then again, there are a lot of well-documented strange phenomena that psychologists are still trying to understand (placebo effect, nocebo effect, or even the nature of consciousness itself). By the way, did you know obsesity itself is socially contagious? Check this out: www.livescience.com/4542-study-obesity-socially-contagious.htmlI read the article which states that studies have shown that obesity is physically contagious. However there is nothing to support this.Instead it's based on the individuals mindset and attitude. Which I do agree. So for it to be called contagious as if it's some kinda disease that effects one another by simply being around them is absurd. Again it's the persons mindset. Heck I've been around all kinds of people big, small, tall, skinny.It's our lives we can choose to not over indulge.
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Post by samboy on Nov 1, 2014 15:36:55 GMT
It's not just the person's mindset. Environmental factors and social factors, such as the people you connect with, can have an impact on one's attitude and behavior. Nobody's saying that obesity is physically contagious, but these studies have shown that even from a long distance an obese friend can have an affect on your body weight.
This is not to say that you will 100% be of a certain weight just because some friend of yours is of that weight. This is more a probability thing, a general trend, not absolute inevitability.
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Post by stinxy on Nov 17, 2014 22:59:05 GMT
It's interesting because I've experienced the same thing. It's really weird, but apart from me, there were two other people in my school that had excessive sweating with body odour. We were all from the same year. The first person was a friend from my class. In her case the condition started earlier and it was more intense (I was at her stage later). But back then nobody knew about me. I only had excessive sweating without the smell, so I could hide it. I had met the second person when I was in high school (his condition was less intense so I'm not sure if it was the same that in our case) but I later found out that he was going to the same secondary school that me and my first friend and was in the same year. I never mentioned it to any of my doctors, because I thought that nobody would believe me, or maybe think I was mental looking for my symptoms in other people. I'm sure that it's not only my impression, because other, "normal" people from my class were talking horrible things about them, how they smell etc. They even put deodorant in my friend's bag. I never asked these two people about the condition. It was taboo. I wouldn't know what to say... Maybe: hey, you stink, let's talk about it....
I was wondering that maybe something in our school caused it? But what could we all have in common? Almost nothing. Maybe it was some kind of vaccine that we all took? I really don't know. It's really confusing, cause I met literally hundreds of people at my university and no-one with this problem.
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