I did a little reseach on this article. I found that the scientists released the scent during the slow wave phase of the REM stage of sleep. The slow wave phase is the third and fourth stage of REM. REM is the rapid eye movement stage. What I find strange is that there is a hypothesis that learning during your sleep makes what you are learning stronger in your mind. In this article, they are decreasing the feeling of fear that the scientists taught to the volunteers. When I was doing my research, I found that the person who led the experiment, Katherina Hauner, seems to be doing a lot of research on phobia. She has also done an experiment with people with phobias of spiders, in which she has the patients gradually get closer to the spider. This slow but steady progression towards the spider without getting attacked by it registered in the patients' brains and they got over their fear.
Here are two pdf files that show her research of the spider phobia.
Katherina has done lots of work for helping people with their fears. I think that with a little more research, her work can benefit all people with fears.
This is a great article. I could not believe that sleep and odor can help get rid of fears. The idea of showing a face/smell and then giving people an electric shock was a smart idea because it made people get the fear. The part I do not understand is how did the scientists got rid of the fear. If you do please let me know. I thought that this article was interesting and can help many people get rid of horrible fear Keep up the good work Katherina!
I found this article fascinating, which made me really think about it. I wondered, can this technique be used on animals or on house pets such as dogs? For example, 15 to 30 percent of dogs have astraphobia. This means they are afraid of lightning, and will exhibit anxiety during a thunderstorm. Also, when lightning hits a tree it smells like burnt wood and smoke. Some of these dogs may have linked this smoky smell with lightning. Does this mean while a dog with astraphobia is sleeping, smoke can be released near by to help them get over their fears? The loud thunder of lightning is what makes these dogs have so much stress. Is it possible to use sound to decrease a dog's fear of lightning, and possibly other fears too?
To add on to Tyra's comment, I actually have a book about what goes on while you're sleeping and there are a whole bunch of sections about REM. About the brain waves, there are 4 different known kinds (delta, theta, alpha, and beta: listed from slowest to fastest). Plus, about every 90 minutes or so in your sleep, our brains have a large spike of activity, which is called rapid eye movement or REM for short.
Also agreeing with Alexis! I am now curious about how this could cure dog fears and also did not know that some dogs were afraid of lightning.
I just have 1 concern about this: If it is eventually used in the real world, most people (especially children) would not associate smells with their fears, and I would guess that most kids would not remember the origin of their fears.
Overall, the article itself was well written for kids and I like that they had definitions of some words at the bottom!
One more random comment - the date that these findings were published in Nature Neuroscience is coincidentally my birthday.
First of all I really enjoyed reading Tyra's comment. I never knew that sleep and different kinds of odors can erase bad memorize or even phobias such as Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. I thought this article was very interesting. Especially how with just some sleep and smells you can lessen a disorder. Using this therapy on others who have fears or disorders can change their life drastically. If you were to have the fear Arachnophobia, and then were to use this therapy, you could eventually touch spiders without freaking out when you see them. I think that this sleep therapy for fears can change many peoples lives forever.
I think that this article was very interesting. I do know some people who have extreme fears of dogs, spiders, and snakes, all of which I don't find that scary. I did some research and I learned that one problem with this is that often times, fears are implanted in people as small children, often before the age of 4, when you can't remember back to, and you may not be able to remember or name the scent that connects with your fear. I don't know if the article was saying that they can name the scents when they smell them because they smell them often at work or home, but I think this was a great article.
I find this very interesting. I could not have ever guessed that scent and sleep could erase memories.In the article it said that it could cure arachnophobia. I have always been scared of spiders. Will this treatment ever be available to the public? It is remarkable that this can happen. Could this work to help cure mental illnesses. That may seem far-fetched, however both phobias and mental illnesses are parts of the brain that are messed up in a way. In my opinion it would be a good idea to try this.
This will be incredibly helpful to the people who do not want to be scared by spiders, fires, or even public speaking. The fact that you can get rid of fears by smelling a scent during the night is truly shock and awe. As soon as I fall asleep tonight I am going to try doing that exactly.
I have looked at a few Eastern fear and calm techniques, and quite a few of them involve aromatherapy. So, unlike others, I had already heard of this method. What I think of as interesting in this article is the connection to modern western science. I often connect aromatherapy to ancient eastern techniques, as I said earlier.
Personally, I am not very impressed with this article. There is not anything that stands out to me. Although they had proof and research about this topic, I found another article talking about how smelling scents can help increase your memory. In fact, when the volunteers took a memory test after having the experiment conducted on them, their memory increased by thirteen percent. This, on the other hand, is extremely useful. Personally, I can live with my fears. Also, what about people who sleep lightly? What happens if they wake up and smell the scent? Will it affect what happens to them afterwards? Lastly, this isn't just something you can do at your house. Looking at pictures, there are wires on your head, and you need to be shocked before you sleep. I get that if you have a real fear, shocking is not necessary, but what scent do you associate it with?
This article was very interesting. My wonder is that if a patient whith a strong phobia had developed a fear at a young age, would they even be able to place the smell that they give them? Is it just locked away in some region of the brain not accessable in consciousness? Even if they could recognize it, how would the scientists be able to know that smell? With many things the smells are apparent, but for example, in spiders, there isn't really a prominent smell associalted with them. Overall, this was an interesting way to cure phobias, but it left me wondering a few things. I give this article 3/5 stars.
To Alexis: Although the lightning striking the tree may release a smoky smell, how do dogs smell that? I guess you could force it to, and I admire your idea of trying this idea on a dog. Lastly, if anyone didn't know, while a lightning storm is going on, dogs and cats exhibit high levels of cortisol (hormone that has to do with stress).
I find it very cool that just by putting a sent into the room you are sleeping in can remove fear. This kind of therapy is much easier than doing something like hypnotizing people. It also costs a lot less money. I find it very hard to believe that a sent can take away fear. It would be interesting to see if it works beter on different ages, or different genders. I definitely would like to learn more about this topic.
It is very interesting that people will have less fear of something or someone if they smell that smell while sleeping in deep-deep sleep. This discovery could help people get rid of bad fears, which would help the world because if people have less fears then they are ready to do more things which is a good characteristic.
Wow! What a great treament they have. I hae never heard of sleep getting read of fears. Usually humans have dreams, and those dreams can be nightmares. I wonder if the scent is for example a dream catcher. If the treatment will help them get rid of fears, then what happens if they are just reminded in their sleep about their fears. The volenteers tested thin treatment with the mans face and the lemon scent, and they got shocked. After, would they be afraid of beinng shocked for smelling lemons at home or is this treatment reversable. Maybe it is. This is an amazing treatment though, and I really hope it can help many people.
I really enjoyed reading this post. I loved hearing about how the people who were put under the same circumstances as those who were awake where not as scared. I started to wonder if someone was given those circumstances, except with something that they are already scared of, could that eventually make them not scared of that thing anymore? Could that program relieve them of the thought of a monster under their bed?
16 comments:
I did a little reseach on this article. I found that the scientists released the scent during the slow wave phase of the REM stage of sleep. The slow wave phase is the third and fourth stage of REM. REM is the rapid eye movement stage. What I find strange is that there is a hypothesis that learning during your sleep makes what you are learning stronger in your mind. In this article, they are decreasing the feeling of fear that the scientists taught to the volunteers. When I was doing my research, I found that the person who led the experiment, Katherina Hauner, seems to be doing a lot of research on phobia. She has also done an experiment with people with phobias of spiders, in which she has the patients gradually get closer to the spider. This slow but steady progression towards the spider without getting attacked by it registered in the patients' brains and they got over their fear.
Here are two pdf files that show her research of the spider phobia.
Link to a URI
Link to a URI
Katherina has done lots of work for helping people with their fears. I think that with a little more research, her work can benefit all people with fears.
This is a great article. I could not believe that sleep and odor can help get rid of fears. The idea of showing a face/smell and then giving people an electric shock was a smart idea because it made people get the fear. The part I do not understand is how did the scientists got rid of the fear. If you do please let me know. I thought that this article was interesting and can help many people get rid of horrible fear Keep up the good work Katherina!
I found this article fascinating, which made me really think about it. I wondered, can this technique be used on animals or on house pets such as dogs? For example, 15 to 30 percent of dogs have astraphobia. This means they are afraid of lightning, and will exhibit anxiety during a thunderstorm. Also, when lightning hits a tree it smells like burnt wood and smoke. Some of these dogs may have linked this smoky smell with lightning. Does this mean while a dog with astraphobia is sleeping, smoke can be released near by to help them get over their fears? The loud thunder of lightning is what makes these dogs have so much stress. Is it possible to use sound to decrease a dog's fear of lightning, and possibly other fears too?
To add on to Tyra's comment, I actually have a book about what goes on while you're sleeping and there are a whole bunch of sections about REM. About the brain waves, there are 4 different known kinds (delta, theta, alpha, and beta: listed from slowest to fastest). Plus, about every 90 minutes or so in your sleep, our brains have a large spike of activity, which is called rapid eye movement or REM for short.
Also agreeing with Alexis! I am now curious about how this could cure dog fears and also did not know that some dogs were afraid of lightning.
I just have 1 concern about this: If it is eventually used in the real world, most people (especially children) would not associate smells with their fears, and I would guess that most kids would not remember the origin of their fears.
Overall, the article itself was well written for kids and I like that they had definitions of some words at the bottom!
One more random comment - the date that these findings were published in Nature Neuroscience is coincidentally my birthday.
First of all I really enjoyed reading Tyra's comment. I never knew that sleep and different kinds of odors can erase bad memorize or even phobias such as Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. I thought this article was very interesting. Especially how with just some sleep and smells you can lessen a disorder. Using this therapy on others who have fears or disorders can change their life drastically. If you were to have the fear Arachnophobia, and then were to use this therapy, you could eventually touch spiders without freaking out when you see them. I think that this sleep therapy for fears can change many peoples lives forever.
I think that this article was very interesting. I do know some people who have extreme fears of dogs, spiders, and snakes, all of which I don't find that scary. I did some research and I learned that one problem with this is that often times, fears are implanted in people as small children, often before the age of 4, when you can't remember back to, and you may not be able to remember or name the scent that connects with your fear. I don't know if the article was saying that they can name the scents when they smell them because they smell them often at work or home, but I think this was a great article.
I find this very interesting. I could not have ever guessed that scent and sleep could erase memories.In the article it said that it could cure arachnophobia. I have always been scared of spiders. Will this treatment ever be available to the public? It is remarkable that this can happen. Could this work to help cure mental illnesses. That may seem far-fetched, however both phobias and mental illnesses are parts of the brain that are messed up in a way. In my opinion it would be a good idea to try this.
This will be incredibly helpful to the people who do not want to be scared by spiders, fires, or even public speaking. The fact that you can get rid of fears by smelling a scent during the night is truly shock and awe. As soon as I fall asleep tonight I am going to try doing that exactly.
I have looked at a few Eastern fear and calm techniques, and quite a few of them involve aromatherapy. So, unlike others, I had already heard of this method. What I think of as interesting in this article is the connection to modern western science. I often connect aromatherapy to ancient eastern techniques, as I said earlier.
Personally, I am not very impressed with this article. There is not anything that stands out to me. Although they had proof and research about this topic, I found another article talking about how smelling scents can help increase your memory. In fact, when the volunteers took a memory test after having the experiment conducted on them, their memory increased by thirteen percent. This, on the other hand, is extremely useful. Personally, I can live with my fears. Also, what about people who sleep lightly? What happens if they wake up and smell the scent? Will it affect what happens to them afterwards? Lastly, this isn't just something you can do at your house. Looking at pictures, there are wires on your head, and you need to be shocked before you sleep. I get that if you have a real fear, shocking is not necessary, but what scent do you associate it with?
This article was very interesting. My wonder is that if a patient whith a strong phobia had developed a fear at a young age, would they even be able to place the smell that they give them? Is it just locked away in some region of the brain not accessable in consciousness? Even if they could recognize it, how would the scientists be able to know that smell? With many things the smells are apparent, but for example, in spiders, there isn't really a prominent smell associalted with them. Overall, this was an interesting way to cure phobias, but it left me wondering a few things. I give this article 3/5 stars.
To Alexis: Although the lightning striking the tree may release a smoky smell, how do dogs smell that? I guess you could force it to, and I admire your idea of trying this idea on a dog. Lastly, if anyone didn't know, while a lightning storm is going on, dogs and cats exhibit high levels of cortisol (hormone that has to do with stress).
I find it very cool that just by putting a sent into the room you are sleeping in can remove fear. This kind of therapy is much easier than doing something like hypnotizing people. It also costs a lot less money. I find it very hard to believe that a sent can take away fear. It would be interesting to see if it works beter on different ages, or different genders. I definitely would like to learn more about this topic.
It is very interesting that people will have less fear of something or someone if they smell that smell while sleeping in deep-deep sleep. This discovery could help people get rid of bad fears, which would help the world because if people have less fears then they are ready to do more things which is a good characteristic.
Wow! What a great treament they have. I hae never heard of sleep getting read of fears. Usually humans have dreams, and those dreams can be nightmares. I wonder if the scent is for example a dream catcher. If the treatment will help them get rid of fears, then what happens if they are just reminded in their sleep about their fears. The volenteers tested thin treatment with the mans face and the lemon scent, and they got shocked. After, would they be afraid of beinng shocked for smelling lemons at home or is this treatment reversable. Maybe it is. This is an amazing treatment though, and I really hope it can help many people.
I really enjoyed reading this post. I loved hearing about how the people who were put under the same circumstances as those who were awake where not as scared. I started to wonder if someone was given those circumstances, except with something that they are already scared of, could that eventually make them not scared of that thing anymore? Could that program relieve them of the thought of a monster under their bed?
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