William Atkins
Saturday, 11 October 2008 21:01
Science -
Biology
Page 1 of 2
German researchers found that bad smells turn dreams negative, while good smells make for pleasant dreams. Could their research help turn a scary situation, such as an overnight stay in a hospital, into a positive experience with a whiff of a rose?
The German researchers were lead by Boris Stuck, a professor of otorhinolaryngology at Heidelberg University (Germany) and Michael Schredl. of the Central Institute of Mental Health
Sleep Laboratory (Germany).
They found that when people slept, the scent of rotten eggs would turn the nature of dreams very negative, while the whiff of roses would turn dream positive.
Dr. Stuck stated,
“We were able to stimulate the sleeper with high concentrations of positively and negatively smelling odors and measure if the stimuli were incorporated into the dreams and changed the emotional tone of dreams.” [Health: “
Sweet Smells May Lead to Sweet Dreams”]
He added,
“We found that the sleeper hardly ever dreamed of smelling something. Nevertheless, the emotional tone of the dream did change depending on the stimulation.” [Health]
The Stuck team studied fifteen young and health female subjects, all who had very sensitive olfactories. (They were good smellers!)
After the subjects were asleep the researchers made sure that they were dreaming (in rapid-eye movement [REM] sleep).
Page two continues the progress of the study, and comments on its conclusions.
