Does eating cheese before bedtime really give you nightmares? This is what science says

Have you heard people say that eating cheese before bedtime will make you have live dreams or nightmares?

This is a relatively common idea. And this week New study He found this suggestion back to the attention center.

But is that true? Let’s unpack the evidence.

Gouda Night’s dream?

Recently Canadian researchers He examined this idea In a rehearsal of 1082 students of psychology of undergraduate studies. Students completed a survey in which questions about how they perceived their diet influenced their dreams and dreams.

About 40% of participants said that some foods influenced their sleep, and 25% of the whole sample claimed that some foods deteriorated their sleep, and 20% reported some foods improved their sleep.

Only 5.5% of respondents believed in what they ate the nature of their dreams. But many of these people thought sweets or dairy products (such as cheese), made their dreams more strange or disturbing and worsened their sleep.

However, participants reported fruit, vegetables and herbal teas led to a better sleep.

This study uses your own reporting, which means that the results are based on the participants of recall and reporting information about their soda and dreams. This could have influenced the results.

It is also possible that the participants have already known the view that cheese causes nightmares, especially considering that they were students of psychology, many of whom could learn sleep and dreams.

This awareness could enhance the chances of noticing or perceived that their dream was disturbed after eating dairy products. In other words, the idea that the cheese leads to nightmares could act like a self -fulfilling prophecy, and the results can overestimate the actual probability of strange dreams.

Nevertheless, these discoveries show that some people see the relationship between what they eat and how they dream.

While there is no evidence that cheese causes Nightmares, there is evidence that explains the link.

Science behind cheese and nightmares

People are daily creatures, which means that our body is prepared for sleep at night and waking up during the day. Eating cheese before bedtime means that we are challenging the body of food at a time when he doesn’t really want to eat.

Our physiological systems at night They are not prepared to digest food. For example, moving through our food lasts longer gastrointestinal tract At night, in comparison, called the day of the day.

If we eat close to sleep, our body must process and digest food during sleep. It’s a bit like running through the mud – we can do it, but it is leisurely and unskilled.

Cheese can be particularly arduous to digest at night because of High fat and protein concentrationWhich It slows down our digestion.

If your body processes and diges food instead of focusing all resources on the sodium, it can affect the closed eye. Studies have shown that food is close to bedtime reduces our sleep qualityEspecially our time spent swift eye (REM), which is a stage of sleep associated with Live dreams.

People will have an even more arduous time of digestion of cheese at night, if they do not tolerate lactose, which may mean that they experience even greater influence on sleep. This is due to what Canadian researchers found in their research, and participants of intolerant lactose report worse sleep quality and more nightmares.

It is significant to remember that we can have live dreams or nightmares every night – which can change, whether we are aware of dreams and remember them when we wake up.

Needy sleep quality often means that we wake up more at night. If we wake up during Rem sleep, Studies show It is more likely that we report live dreams or nightmares that we could not even remember if we did not wake up during them.

This is very significant in the case of cheese and nightmares. To put it simply, food before bedtime affects our sleep quality, so it is more likely that we wake up during our nightmares and remember them.

Can I still have a brie before bedtime?

Don’t panic – I’m not here to tell you, you’ll give up bad evenings. But what we eat before bedtime can really affect how well we sleep, so it matters.

General Sleep hygiene guidelines Suggest to avoid meals at least two hours before bedtime. So even if you eat a very difficult meal, you have a window time before bedtime to dig a meal and swim to a pleasant, peaceful sleep.

Or maybe other dairy products?

Cheese is not the only dairy product that can affect our dream. Most of us have heard about the benefits of a hot glass of milk before bedtime.

Milk can be easier to digest than cheese. In fact, milk is a good choice in the evening, like Contains tryptophanThe amino acid that helps promote sleep.

Nevertheless, we still do not want to challenge our body too much dairy products before bedtime. Participants of the Canadian study reported nightmares for dairy products, and milk near the bed could contribute to this.

Although it is reasonable to avoid food (especially cheese) within two hours before the lights are out, you do not need to avoid cheese. Enjoy the cheesy pasta or cheese board, just give your body time to digest before bedtime. If you have a desire for cheese tardy at night, choose something tiny. Your dream (and your dreams) will thank you.