Many people have experienced the unsettling sensation of waking up from a nightmare after indulging in a late-night cheese snack, and it turns out they may not be alone in this troubling phenomenon.
Recent research conducted in Canada has uncovered a notable correlation between lactose intolerance and an increased risk of suffering from bad dreams.
In this study, researchers surveyed over 1,000 college students, seeking to examine the relationship between dietary habits and sleep quality.
The results indicated that individuals who frequently experienced nightmares or disrupted sleep patterns were more likely to report food allergies, including lactose intolerance.
Russ Powell, a psychologist and professor emeritus at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, emphasized the findings: “The results we obtained confirmed our hypothesis that lactose intolerance is indeed predictive of disturbed dreaming and nightmares.”
The idea that certain foods affect our dream patterns is not entirely new.
American cartoonist Winsor McCay famously illustrated this concept in his early 1900s comic strip, “Dream of the Rarebit Fiend,” often depicting characters suffering nightmares after consuming Welsh rarebit, a dish made of cheese on toast.
However, Powell pointed out that, despite popular folklore, scientific investigation into this association has been limited.
A decade prior, Powell’s team had published a survey revealing that around 20% of participants reported experiencing strange dreams they felt were linked to specific foods or late-night eating, with dairy products commonly cited as a trigger.
In their latest research, Powell and colleagues aimed not only to replicate their earlier study’s findings but also to explore the underlying reasons connecting food consumption to disturbing dreams.
Approximately 40% of survey respondents felt that their food choices or late-night eating habits affected their sleep, with 25% believing their diets contributed to poorer sleep quality.
While only 5.5% explicitly attributed specific foods to the content of their dreams, dairy, spicy foods, and sweets emerged as frequently mentioned culprits.
The study also highlighted that those who self-reported lactose intolerance experienced an increased frequency of severe nightmares and reported generally poor sleep.
Interestingly, individuals with less healthy dietary habits overall were also more likely to report nightmares and difficulty recalling their dreams.
The research findings have been published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, with a nod to McCay’s comic strip in the title.
For those with lactose intolerance, indulging in dairy can trigger gastrointestinal distress, causing symptoms like bloating and discomfort that may disrupt sleep or negatively influence dream quality.
The researchers suggest that this type of discomfort could be particularly influential on dream disturbances, potentially more so than other physical distress.
As Powell observed, “It may be that GI distress, in comparison to other types of physical distress, has a particularly strong impact upon sleeping and dreaming.”
He also speculated that because gastrointestinal symptoms are often associated with toxic ingestion, these dairy-related nightmares could serve as a bodily alert system for medical emergencies.
Looking ahead, the research team hopes to conduct experimental studies comparing sleep and dream patterns in lactose-intolerant individuals after consuming dairy versus avoiding it completely.
By doing so, Powell believes it could be enlightening to investigate whether sensitivities to various foods contribute to nightmare disorders in some individuals.
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