“O, my love’s like a red red rose That’s newly sprung in June.”
--Robert Burns (Scottish Poet, 1759-1796)
Just in time for Valentine’s day, comes some research from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, that may have important implications for many people. Researchers discovered that the sensitivity to the smell of roses was greater in people sitting than in those who were lying down.
This is consistent with other research that has found that many of our senses are less acute when we lie down. It is not simply that when we lie down our noses are less exposed to wind drafts carrying odors, it is likely part of a complex series of partial shut downs of the senses that take place as we prepare for sleep.
There are two messages from this research:
1. Most brain imaging studies are done when people are lying down in a scanner, so when we are doing experiments involving the senses, we may need to rethink that, and see if we can re-arrange things so that subjects can be seated.
2. If you are planning on scattering rose petals, or giving someone special a bouquet of roses, perhaps you should wait until they have got out of bed.....
Very well put. I enjoyed your recent post and added your feed to my.yahoo home page. Please keep these coming!
Posted by: Patrick K. Porter, Ph.D. | February 15, 2006 at 11:31 PM