10/03/2010
Stress can alter rules of sexual attraction
by Sarah Howard
According to psychologists, men are attracted to a broader spectrum of women when they are feeling anxious or stressed.
The research into the psychology of sexual attraction has shown that people are generally more attracted to partners with similar facial features to themselves, but after periods of heightened stress, men's inclinations altered to include a wider variety of women.
The attraction to people with similar facial features is attributed to people having more trust in a familiar looking face. Indeed, this is reported to be important for long term relationships.
The Guardian reports that the research carried out at the University of Trier in Germany, found that relaxed men rated women 14 per cent less attractive if they looked different from themselves. Whereas, stressed men found more antithetical women 9 per cent more appealing. The research suggests that humans and animals lose their normal sexual bias when under stress.
Leader of the research, Johanna Lass-Hennemann comments that stress increases the propensity of men to reproduce with genetically dissimilar partners - nevertheless, this does have the benefit of producing children who may be better geared to cope with stressful situations. Lass Hennemann stated: ''We think that chronically stressful environments should increase outbreeding, because inbreeding may lead to offspring that are not genetically diverse enough to deal with the varying circumstances that a risky and stressful environment imposes on them.''
Lass Hennemann concluded her research by saying that it was unlikely that acute stress would change a long term partner choice, but it could lead to more rash choices when it came to attraction preference.
To avoid such rash choices, it is important to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Hypnotherapy, taking time out to relax from a busy schedule, healthy eating, exercise, taking up a hobby or receiving counselling are all good ways to reduce stress levels.
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