There are lots of easy ways to boost your sex appeal. Walk a dog; play good music; tell a joke.
There are, unfortunately, at least as many easy ways to sabotage your sex appeal. Think slouching or crossing your arms in your online dating photo. Swipe left!
Below, we've rounded up some all-too-common traits and behaviors that can make it harder to score a date — only some of which have to do with your physical appearance.
SEE ALSO: 13 science-backed ways to appear more attractive
Sleep deprivation
We can look a lot less attractive after skimping on sleep.
In 2010, researchers from Sweden and the Netherlands took photos of people who'd slept for at least eight hours the night before and people who hadn't slept in 31 hours. Sleep-deprived people were rated as less healthy and less attractive.
Three years later, the researchers went into more detail, and other participants rated the people in the photos based on different criteria.
In general, participants said that sleep-deprived people had more "droopy/hanging eyelids, red eyes, dark circles under the eyes, and pale skin." They even looked sadder than their better-rested counterparts.
Being mean
Do nice guys really finish last?
For a 2014 Chinese study, researchers had men and women look at photos of other people, all displaying neutral expressions.
Some of those photos were accompanied by the Chinese words for "decent" and honest"; the others were accompanied by the Chinese words for "evil" and "mean"; still others weren't accompanied by any information.
Participants ended up rating people least attractive when they were described as evil and mean.
Contractive body language
The "power pose" is a controversial topic in the scientific community. A 2010 study found that expanding your body can make you feel more powerful and confident, but one of its authors recently said the effects aren't real.
But a 2016 study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Northwestern University suggests that striking something like a power pose can make you seem more attractive — and contractive body language can make you seem less so.
In one experiment from the study above, researchers created profiles for men and women on a GPS-based dating app. In one set of profiles, the men and women were pictured in contractive positions — for example, by crossing their arms or hunching their shoulders.
In the other set of profiles, the same men and women were pictured in expansive positions, like holding their arms upward in a "V" or reaching out to grab something.
Results showed that participants were more likely to choose people in expansive postures as someone they'd like to go on a date with than those in contractive postures. And men pictured in contractive postures seemed to be at a special disadvantage.
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