A recent study carried out by a German research team shows that sleeping with sweet-smelling flowers in your bedroom increases the chances of having sweet dreams that night.

The study involved 15 sleeping female volunteers. Their sleep was analyzed for 30 nights and researchers slipped scents from rotten eggs to roses under their noses. The emotions experienced in their sleep depended on what scent the sleeping volunteers smelled.

The next step of the small study is to do some research regarding people who experience nightmares, the German researchers said at a meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology. They want to find out whether a nightmare treatment through odors could be developed.

The main idea - that it is highly possible that dreams are more pleasant if the scent of the room is enjoyable– was underlined by Professor Boris Stuck and the other researchers at the University Hospital Mannheim.

Researchers said they waited until volunteers reached the REM to expose different smells for about 10 seconds. After 1 minute, the volunteers were woken up and asked about their dream.

REM (rapid eye movement) is the sleep phase when most dreams occur.

Most volunteers did not dream of smelling something, but the emotions experienced during dreaming were in accordance with the scents they smelled.

The findings of the study were welcomed by the medical community.

"This initial research …may well lead to therapeutic benefits," said Dr Irshaad Ebrahim of The London Sleep Centre.

"Smell is the only sense that doesn't 'sleep',” said Professor Tim Jacob at Cardiff University.

"Other senses have to pass through the 'gate' of the thalamus, which is closed when we sleep."