We all get nightmares (the ones that you get in your sleep) every once in a while. Ever heard of the old wives’ tale blaming cheese for nightmares? Well, looks like there might be some truth in the folklore after all! A new study has linked the popular belief to disturbed sleep, including nightmares.A study by researchers from the Université de Montréal and MacEwan University found that dairy products may bring a boogeyman or a headless ghost in your nightmares! The study is published in Frontiers in Psychology.Cheese and nightmares
Scientists found that eating too much dairy could ruin your sleep. To understand the link between diary and nightmares, the researchers quizzed over 1,000 students about the quality of their sleep, their eating habits, and any perceived link between the two. What they found was striking. They found a strong link between nightmares and lactose intolerance. This could be potentially caused due to gas or stomach pain, which affects people’s dreams.“Nightmare severity is robustly associated with lactose intolerance and other food allergies. 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!” Dr Tore Nielsen of Université de Montréal, lead author, said in a statement.Cheese = No sweet dreams
Folklore has long believed that diet has an impact on how you sleep; however, there was very little evidence to prove or disprove this. To explore this, the researchers surveyed 1,082 students at MacEwan University. The participants were asked about their sleep time and quality, dreams and nightmares, and any perceived association between different kinds of dreams and different foods. The researchers also tried to understand participants’ mental and physical health and their relationship with food. A third of the participants reported nightmares. The researchers noticed that women were more likely to remember these dreams, and poor sleep and nightmares, and nearly twice as likely as men to report a food intolerance or allergy. They found that about 40% of the participants thought eating late at night or specific foods affected their sleep; roughly 25% thought particular foods could make their sleep worse. Interestingly, the ones who ate less healthy food were more likely to have nightmares and less likely to remember dreams.“We are routinely asked whether food affects dreaming, especially by journalists on food-centric holidays. Now we have some answers,” Nielsen said. The real culprit
People who had bad sleep blamed it on sweets, spicy foods, or dairy were responsible. 5.5% participants felt that what they ate affected the tone of their dreams. Most of them reported that they feel sweets or dairy make their dreams more disturbing or bizarre. The authors compared food intolerances with bad dreams and poor sleep. They found that lactose intolerance was associated with gastrointestinal symptoms, nightmares, and low sleep quality.“Nightmares are worse for lactose-intolerant people who suffer severe gastrointestinal symptoms and whose sleep is disrupted. This makes sense because we know that other bodily sensations can affect dreaming. Nightmares can be very disruptive, especially if they occur often, because they tend to awaken people from sleep in a dysphoric state. They might also produce sleep avoidance behaviors. Both symptoms can rob you of restful sleep,” Nielsen added. What are the experts saying The researchers found fewer people linking food and dreams than in a similar study conducted eleven years ago. One possible reason could be that the participants today may be more aware of food intolerances and have adjusted their diets accordingly. Though the researchers found a robust link between lactose intolerance and nightmares, it’s not clear how it works.
“We need to study more people of different ages, from different walks of life, and with different dietary habits to determine if our results are truly generalizable to the larger population. Experimental studies are also needed to determine if people can truly detect the effects of specific foods on dreams. We would like to run a study in which we ask people to ingest cheese products versus some control food before sleep to see if this alters their sleep or dreams,” Nielsen added.
