A recent study has revealed that most people consider a dewy red glow of the cheeks to be a sign of good health while more pale skin is thought to be an indication of illness. Research carried out by the University of St Andrews put the power to the people by having volunteers alter digital images of real people to make them look more healthy.

The results were conculsive; almost all participants changed the tone of the skin so that it displayed a redder tint and hue but there was a slight difference in the sexes with the female photos being given more red than the male equivalents.

Blood that is red is oxygenated while blue blood returns to the heart with far less oxygen in and with fitter people found to have more oxygen in their blood, red cheeks are seen as healthy looking. Researchers, unsurprisingly maybe, recommended increasing the amount of exercise undertaken and cutting out smoking as two easy ways to see a more rosy complexion to your features.

What this also tells us is that a healthy look is part of the attraction process with both men and women preferring a partner who looked fit and healty over one with pale, even blue, skin. But with volunteers able to recognise very subtle different tones having very red skin actually does the opposite as this again is seen as unhealthy and an indication of some possible underlying illness.

So why not go and get out and about; walk, jog, cycle or even swim yourself to a more healthy and thus more attractive appearance.

Tags: attraction, healthy, skin, smoking

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 11:32 am and is filed under General Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.