Smells Influence Dreams

Researchers at the University Hospital Mannheim in Germany have found that there may be a connection between what you smell and what you dream.

They asked subjects about their dreams after three tests. A control with no scents at all and tests with rose scents and rotten egg scents giving shortly after the subject enter the REM stage of sleep. After the rose scent was given, most subjects reported more pleasant dreams. After the rotten egg scent was given, unpleasant dreams were reported. It was noted that although the dreams were seemingly affected, the scent itself was not incorporated into the dream.

The researchers concluded that pleasant smells can lead to pleasant dreams. This connection may be explained by the link between the sense of smell and the limbic system of the brain which also governs a person's emotions and behaviors. If pleasant smells lead to better emotions while awake the same could be true while asleep.

The indirect nature of the incorporation of the smell could lead to important clues about dream formation. One fallback of the research is that the subjects were woke up after only a minute of dreaming after the scent was administer. Because of this, it is unknown exactly to what extent the scent would be incorporated into the dreams if giving the chance.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080923-smell-sleep.html

-John H.