To sleep, perchance to smell

By Bruce Naherniak

Jan. 1, 2009

Woe be to the boy who falls asleep first at a sleepover. Sleepy heads know that an all-night endurance test with your friends is the perfect recipe for mischief and mayhem.

Way back in my younger years, the poor soul who fell asleep first was the victim of some creative pranks. There were the usual goodies like putting the sleeper’s hand in warm water to see if he would wet the bed. Another was to take pictures of the sleeping guy with a sign like, “I wear women’s clothes for fun!” and then show everyone at school on Monday.

My all time favorite was the time we used a permanent marker to paint a curly mustache and matching black socks on our unsuspecting amigo.

Those are great memories — unless you were the guy waking up with the permanent mustache and painted feet.

Recently, scientists found that what you smell has a powerful influence over what you dream about. If allowed to smell rotten eggs while sleeping, the study’s subjects reported dreaming negative dreams. On the other hand, smelling roses while snoring away led to happy dreams.

So, it seems simple: bad smells equal bad dreams, good smells equal good dreams. This smell-dream connection is relatively new in the scientific world, but the researchers envision a whole new therapeutic approach based on sweet smelling bedrooms.

Until that day, it is probably a good idea to at least get those dirty old gym socks out of the bedroom and into the wash.

Until next time, remember to sleep with one eye open at your next sleep over.

Dr. Bruce Naherniak and his brother, Dr. Scott Naherniak, are chiropractors in Winnipeg. They operate Cornerstone Chiropractic Wellness Centre, #55 - 11 Reenders Dr., and can be reached at 777-5433 or drbou812@gmail.com.