Are you anxious and sweaty? That’s so sexy!

You don’t usually think of breaking into a cold sweat as making you more desirable to a potential mate, but a new study says anxiety may actually make you more attractive.

Apparently, anxiety breaks the usual rules when it comes to the laws of attraction. Not only do potential romantic partners see nervous people as more attractive and interesting, but they also see that anxious behavior as an indicator that the nervous person is attracted to them. Even nervous sweating was found to add to a person’s appeal in the study, published in January 2020 in Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology.

“Participants reported that they did, indeed, experience a cluster of anxiety-related physiological and behavioral reactions during an initial encounter with someone they found highly attractive,” the study’s authors wrote.

The study was conducted by researchers from Penn State Harrisburg, who examined 280 subjects and their reactions to people they were attracted to, as well as how they perceived the reactions of people they believed were attracted to them.

“Participants reported most frequently experiencing increased attentiveness, smiling, staring, heart rate, giggling/laughter, blushing, and difficulty concentrating during this first encounter,” the authors wrote. “Both sexes reported speaking faster and being less able to express themselves clearly, and women reported using a higher pitch and having a more unsteady tone of voice during an initial encounter of attraction. Further, participants reported observing similar nervous reactions by others whom they perceived were attracted to them.”

They also noted that sweating releases pheromones that can send out chemical signals of attraction.

In many ways, we may see the positives in nervous behavior because we see the negatives in arrogant or brash behavior. Many of the participants in the Penn State Harrisburg study said that that they perceived nervous people as being nicer, more engaging, more interesting, and even more conversational than overconfident individuals.

“Many people suffer from first impression jitters when interacting with attractive relational options. They feel butterflies in their stomach and flushing in their face, among other semi-automatic responses in the moment,” trial lawyer Wendy L. Patrick, who was not involved in the study, wrote in Psychology Today. “Yet as luck would have it, such inadvertent expressions of interest may actually make them appear more interesting — and attractive.”

Does being nervous make us more attractive in other contexts?

Being nervous can be a plus when you’re looking for a job, too. Anxiety can show how you’re good at what you do — so long as it doesn’t overwhelm signs of competence or preparedness. Anxiety suggests vulnerability, relatability, and an awareness of one’s flaws. In a job interview, it also shows that you really do want the position. All of these qualities serve a candidate well in the early stages of the recruitment process.

If you’re a naturally nervous person, or if you’re just nervous because you’re up for a position you really want, the experts at UP Career Center have five tips to keep your nerves from sabotaging your interview:

1. Analyze the job description
2. Clarify your strengths and values
3. Research the employer
4. Anticipate questions and prepare answers ahead of time
5. Prepare questions for the employer

Read more psychology tips here.