What if you could boost your memory or other learning during sleep just by sniffing certain odors? There’s new evidence that doing so might improve exam performance.
Sleep, scent and learning
A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports seems to indicate that certain fragrances can be used to target memory and learning.
The study included 54 participants—all German six-graders—who kept rose-scented sticks near them while studying English vocabulary in their home environment. A week later, the group was divided into four parts:
- Group #1 had no exposure to any scents.
- Group #2 sniffed the rose scent at home and during the test at school.
- Group #3 sniffed the rose scent at home and every night during sleep before the test but NOT during the test.
- Group #4 sniffed the rose scent at home, every night during sleep before the text AND during the test.
The results showed groups #3 and #4 did “significantly better” on the test compared to the first two groups. Groups #1 and #2 showed no benefits, leading the researchers to believe that smelling the rose scent before/during sleep helped.
Group 4 performed slightly better than group #3, but it wasn’t statistically significant, leading the researchers to believe that it was the exposure to the scent during sleep that acted as the most vital factor.
“The students showed a significant increase in learning success by about 30% if the incense sticks were used during both the learning and sleep phases,” explains first author Franziska Neumann.
Caveats of the study
Keep in mind, there were only 54 students in this study, and they were all quite young. The results may not be the same for older adults.
In addition, the scientists don’t know how close the incense stick was to the students’ noses when they were home, or even if they used them correctly and consistently.
