For years they repeated that eating cheese before going to sleep could bring bizarre dreams or nightmares. And if so far it could have seemed only an metropolitan legend or the fruit of popular imagination (as in the famous strip of Winsor McCay Dream of the rarebit fiendfrom 1904), today it is science that confirms that perhaps there was something true.
A study published on Frontiers in Psychology And conducted by a team from the University of Montreal, led by Dr. Tore Nielsen, he has in fact discovered a concrete link between some food intolerances – in particular the lactose one – and the increase in disturbing dreams.
The result? The cheese, but also sweets and spicy foods, if consumed before going to bed, can really influence the quality of sleep and the content of dreams. And the culprit could be our intestine, in close dialogue with the brain.
How evening food can turn into a night nightmare
To carry out the research, the team collected and analyzed the data of 1,082 university students, investigating food habits, sensitivity to certain foods, sleep quality and content of dreams. The results are clear: about a third of the interviewees said they often suffer from nightmares, while 40% noticed a correlation between food and sleep. More specifically, 5.5% identified precise foods as the cause of disturbing dreams.
Among the foods under accusation, surprisingly, the cheese was not the main suspect: in the first place there are sweets, followed by dairy products and spicy dishes. However, researchers observed that those who are lactose intolerant tend to make more negative dreams and recurrent nightmares.
The reason? It would be gastrointestinal disorders – swelling, gas, cramps – to influence the quality of sleep, disturbing it and transmitting unpleasant sensations to the brain, which re -elaborates them during the Rem phase.
As Dr. Nielsen, head of the Dream & Nightmare Laboratory of the Sacro Cuoreal hospital of Montreal explains:
The severity of nightmares is closely associated with lactose intolerance and other food allergies. These data suggest that, for people with certain sensitivity, changing evening eating habits could reduce nightmares.
A more advanced statistical analysis has confirmed that it is not the cheese in itself that causes negative dreams, but the physical consequences it produces in those who do not digest it correctly. In short, if you are lactose intolerant and make a snack to the cheese before sleeping, you could wake up in the middle of the night after a nightmare. The problem, therefore, is not food as such, but how your body reacts to it.
Not just dairy products
The research also revealed other interesting aspects. The desserts, such as cakes and biscuits, have been more frequently associated with strange dreams or nightmares than cheeses. The spiced foods have often been mentioned among the causes of disturbing dreams.
But it’s not just a matter of What We eat: even when it affects. Eating late in the evening, especially without a real feeling of hunger, was associated with a greater incidence of negative dreams. On the contrary, those who have the habit of dinner early and light tend to remember dreams with greater clarity, and these are often less full of negative emotions.
Another curious figure concerns the conscious nutrition: those who listen to the hunger signals, avoid emotional eating and consume more fruit, vegetables and herbal teas, has reported a more peaceful sleep and more peaceful dreams. On the contrary, those who have a disordered food style, with abundant evening meals and few plant foods, have reported a disturbed sleep and frequent nightmares.
Obviously, the authors of the research warn against hasty conclusions: correlation does not necessarily mean cause. It is not yet clear whether it is food to influence dreams or if they are other factors, such as stress or emotions, to affect both on the diet and on sleep.
The link between intestine and brain is real
In recent years, science has confirmed that the intestine and the brain constantly communicate, thanks to the intestine-cervello axis. This connection explains why gastrointestinal disorders (such as irritable intestine syndrome, IBS) can also influence mood, sleep cycle and even dreams.
Some studies have observed that an anti-inflammatory diet, such as the Mediterranean one, can help reduce the frequency and intensity of nightmares, especially in subjects suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). According to Nielsen, this could open new paths in the prevention of sleep disorders through feeding.
The researcher underlines that for years journalists have asked him if a link between food and dreams really exists: now, finally, we have concrete evidence. The next step will be to conduct controlled studies in which the content of the dreams will be analyzed after eating, for example, cheeses compared to neutral foods. Only then will we have a definitive response.
In the meantime, if you happen to make a nightmare after an evening snack based on desserts or dairy products, you are not alone: it could be your intestine that I send a message to the brain. And the dreams, apparently, listen.
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