Cheese Might Really Trigger Nightmares, New Study Reveals

Food and Dreams: A Closer Look

It’s quite common to hear people talk about strange dreams or even vivid nightmares after having cheese late at night. However, until recently, there wasn’t much scientific backing to support this connection. A new study is attempting to change that by exploring how the foods we eat before bedtime can genuinely influence our dreams.

Leading this research is dream neuroscientist Tore Nielsen from the University of Montreal. He often receives inquiries about whether food impacts our dreams and has previously shared studies on this topic.

In this latest research, Nielsen and his team surveyed 1,082 psychology students from MacEwan University in Canada. They collected information about the students’ eating habits, their sleep quality, and their dream experiences. The participants also provided insights into how they believed certain foods might affect their sleep and dreams.

“These new findings imply that altering eating habits could help individuals with certain food sensitivities reduce nightmares. This might also clarify why dairy is frequently blamed for unsettling dreams,” Nielsen notes.

Interestingly, only about 5.5 percent of participants felt that what they ate and when they ate affected their dreams. Among those, many attributed unusual or disturbing dreams mainly to dairy or sweet treats. In fact, 31 percent associated bizarre dreams with desserts, while 22 percent pointed the finger at dairy products.

The research identified a notable link between lactose intolerance or food allergies and experiencing nightmares or poor sleep quality. This connection might be due to symptoms like stomach pain disrupting sleep, thus increasing the chances of dreaming vividly or remembering those dreams.

This suggests that adjusting diets to manage food intolerances could enhance sleep quality as well as digestive comfort.

“Nightmares tend to be especially troubling for those who are lactose intolerant and experience severe gastrointestinal discomfort, leading to disrupted sleep,” Nielsen emphasizes. “It’s understandable, as we know various physical conditions can influence our dreams. Frequent nightmares can significantly disrupt sleep, often waking individuals in a distressed state. This can lead to avoidance of sleep, which ultimately deprives individuals of restorative rest.”

The study also highlighted that individuals who maintain healthier eating habits—such as consuming better food choices and being more intuitive about their eating—tend to remember their dreams better. Conversely, those who indulge more in junk food and eat without listening to their hunger cues often experience worse nightmares and may remember less about their dreams.

However, it’s worth mentioning that this study relies on self-reported data from university students, so it doesn’t necessarily reflect a wider population. It provides insight into people’s feelings about the food-dream connection, but not the underlying mechanisms behind it.

“More research is needed with a diverse range of individuals across different ages and lifestyles to see if our findings can be applied to a broader audience,” Nielsen mentions. “We also need experimental studies to truly understand if certain foods have measurable effects on dreams. Ideally, we’d like to conduct a trial where participants eat cheese before bedtime and compare their experiences to those who eat a neutral food.”