New research suggests that certain foods can cause disturbing, bizarre or lucid dreams – and it’s not cheese that tops the list.
Sarah Knapton
Sweet dreams may be driven away by sweet treats before bedtime.
While cheese usually gets the blame for disrupted sleep and nightmares, a new study suggests that desserts and sugary snacks are worse.
Canadian researchers surveyed 1082 students, asking about sleep time and quality, dreams and nightmares, and the association between types of dreams and different foods.
Surprisingly, spicy foods and pickles were less of a problem than cereals or meat.
“We are routinely asked whether food affects dreaming,” said Tore Nielsen, professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal. “Now we have some answers.”
Desserts and sweets topped the list for vivid, disturbing, bizarre or lucid dreams, with dairy coming second and fruit third.
The study also found a link between nightmares and lactose intolerance, which researchers suspect may be the reason that cheese has gained such a bad reputation.
When the authors compared reports of food intolerances to reports of bad dreams and poor sleep, they found that lactose intolerance was associated with gastrointestinal symptoms, nightmares and low sleep quality.
They believe that eating dairy can activate gastrointestinal disturbances that stop the body being able to switch off during sleep, with the resulting discomfort affecting people’s dreams and the quality of their rest.
Women were more likely to report both food intolerances and allergies.
“Nightmare severity is robustly associated with lactose intolerance and other food allergies,” said Prof Nielsen.
“These new findings imply that changing eating habits for people with some food sensitivities could alleviate nightmares.
“They could also explain why people so often blame dairy for bad dreams.”
However, researchers say the link between food and sleep is not clear cut because it is possible that people do not eat well because they don’t sleep well, or that another unknown factor influences both sleep and diet.
The team is hoping to run a study asking people to ingest cheese products versus a control food before sleep to see if this alters their sleep or dreams.
The research was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
The Telegraph, London
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