Nonsense, says Rachel Herz, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University and author of The Scent of Desire. Her research and experiments indicate people do not respond to odours while they are in the dreaming phase of sleep (REM) or deep sleep. “You cannot smell while you are asleep,” she says.
An olfactory hallucination (phantosmia) makes you detect smells that aren’t really there in your environment. The odors you notice in phantosmia are different from person to person and may be foul or pleasant.
Body odor at night rarely tops the list of serious health woes, but it can be embarrassing and disconcerting. Sour body odor when sleeping usually isn’t a cause for concern, but the sweating could be a sign of benign hyperhidrosis or a more serious ailment. Simply put, your body smells because you sweat.
The phantom smell usually goes away on its own in a few weeks or months. Your doctor might suggest that you rinse your sinuses with a saltwater solution.
Retrospective responses to the questionnaire indicate that approximately 33% of men and 40% of women recalled having experienced sensations of smell or taste in their dreams. A total of 3372 dream reports were collected and scored for unambiguous references to auditory, olfactory, and gustatory experiences.
New research shows how anxiety or stress can rewire the brain, linking centers of emotion and olfactory processing, to make typically benign smells malodorous.
Olfactory hallucinations can be caused by common medical conditions such as nasal infections, nasal polyps, or dental problems. It can result from neurological conditions such as migraines, head injuries, strokes, Parkinson’s disease, seizures, or brain tumors.
Why Does My Room Smell After Sleeping? During sleep, your body is trying hard to regulate its temperature which can lead to sweat production. This often causes body odor, so we wake up in a bit of a stinky room. Your mattress and pillows also can absorb a lot of liquid, which can end up smelly, too.
Bedrooms smell bad in the morning due to bad breath, body odor, dust, and infrequent changing sheets or pillowcases. This leaves a foul odor that remains in the air. This is common among homeowners who have smaller bedrooms, where the air circulation is poor.
Make you and your partner happier with fresher morning breath when you first wake up. The bad breath occurs because your saliva dries up during sleep. This allows bacteria to build up and produce foul smells. Remain calm!
Smelling things that aren’t there is called phantosmia. It can be unpleasant and affect how things taste. But it isn’t usually serious and may go away by itself in a few weeks or months.
Among adults 60 years and older, antidiabetic medications, antihyperlipidemic agents, and proton pump inhibitors are associated with 74–88% greater odds of report of phantom odor [OR=1.74 (1.09, 2.77), OR=1.85 (1.22. 2.80), and OR=1.88 (1.15, 3.07)], respectively.
Brief episodes of phantom smells or phantosmia — smelling something that’s not there — can be triggered by temporal lobe seizures, epilepsy, or head trauma. Phantosmia is also associated with Alzheimer’s and occasionally with the onset of a migraine.
Hypnagogic hallucinations, also sometimes referred to as waking dreams, are a type of hallucination1 that occurs as a person is drifting off to sleep2. In general, hallucinations involve seeing, hearing, feeling, or smelling something that isn’t actually present.
Lucid dreams are when you know that you’re dreaming while you’re asleep. You’re aware that the events flashing through your brain aren’t really happening. But the dream feels vivid and real. You may even be able to control how the action unfolds, as if you’re directing a movie in your sleep.
During non-REM sleep, the thalamus is inactive, but during REM sleep, when we are dreaming, the thalamus is active, sending the cerebral cortex images, sounds, and sensations, which is why we are able to hear, feel, and see in our dreams similarly to how we do when we are awake.
A brain tumor in the temporal lobe can affect your sense of smell and create a phantom odor.
If you notice phantom smells, talk to your doctor about it. They may do a thorough physical exam and ask about your medical history to make sure you don’t have another underlying cause, like a brain tumor. Doctors may also have to rule out another similar smell disorder called parosmia.
That’s because anxiety can cause sweating, which may make your armpits and other areas start to smell more like sweat. Anxiety may also cause mouth breathing, which appears to increase bacteria and lead to slightly worse breath.
Phantosmia is not usually a cause for concern, and it often clears up by itself. It can also be a symptom of a more serious condition, so people experiencing phantom smells should see their doctor to check for underlying conditions or complications.
Phantosmia is a hallucination of your olfactory system. You smell odors that aren’t really there, but you think they’re in your nose or somewhere around you. Phantosmia can develop after a respiratory infection or a head injury.
Olfactory hallucinations or fantosmia are perceptions of smells that have no object. They almost always consist of unpleasant smells: rotten fish or eggs, gasoline, excrement, and so on. Their origin is generally central.
Sweating in the groin area can attract fungus and bacteria that can lead to a bad smell. Showering after exercise or athletic activity can help reduce the bad-smelling effects of smells related to sweating. Putting on clean, dry clothes after a sweat session can also help.
Mold, dust, dirty laundry, bedding, and sweat are all likely contributing factors. By cleaning up frequently, you eliminate the bacteria that build up on surfaces in your home and cause odor.
Mold usually gives off an earthy and musty scent. Sometimes, it may also smell like rotten plants and onions. When mold grows in humid areas like the shower, you smell an onion scent. Water sticks to ceilings and walls when there is not enough ventilation.