# Can you smell when you're asleep?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 1, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000 "2003-02-01T00:27:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mailbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mailbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mailbox)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000/1 "2003-02-01T00:27:10Z")

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I heard this a while ago & am curious if people can or can not smell when they’re sleeping. I looked on google, lycos, etc. but I couldn’t find very much relavent information.

Yours in pointless curiousity,

Al

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**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000/2 "2003-02-01T00:30:48Z")

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Well, my ex smelled pretty bad at times in her sleep. Esp if she was getting sweaty.

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000/3 "2003-02-01T00:31:31Z")

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I had a dog that was skunked a few years ago. It was the smell that woke up Mrs. H and I. From my experience, the sense of smell is still active when one is sleeping.

Haj

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000/4 "2003-02-01T00:39:24Z")

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Sure. Smell, smoke for example, can wake you up. So can the smell od food.  
Peace,  
mangeorge

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000/5 "2003-02-01T01:31:47Z")

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also smelling salts can wake people up from sleep.

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-when-youre-asleep/152000/6 "2003-02-01T01:39:51Z")

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I would be surprised if people’s sense of smell didn’t work whiile they were sleeping (afterall - being able to smell the breath of a hungry lion might be quite useful for survival)

On another note - I know it is possible to _taste_ in dreams, because I had a dream a few weeks ago about stuffing my face with crisps (potato-chips to most doperts) which has put me off eating crisps ever since.