Smells During
Sleep May Shape Dreams
Reported
October 02, 2008
When the women entered REM sleep, the researchers woke
them up and asked them what was on their minds just before waking.
The women described the dreams they'd been having and rated how positive or
negative those dreams had been.
The women reported more positive dreams when they had smelled the rose scent
during sleep, and more negative dreams when they had smelled the scent of
rotten eggs during sleep.
The type of scent didn't affect how long the dreams lasted or how bizarre
the dreams were.
It would be interesting to see if pleasant scents smelled
during sleep affect nightmares, say the researchers, who included Michael
Schredl, PhD, of the sleep laboratory at the Central Institute of Mental
Health in Mannheim, Germany.
Their findings were presented yesterday in Chicago at the annual meeting of
the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
SOURCES : American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery 112th
annual meeting, Chicago, Sept. 21-24, 2008.
