Can Certain Foods Cause Nightmares?

It's common for many parents to tell their children they can't eat sugar before they go to bed because they'll have bad dreams. Can the foods you eat alter your sleep cycle? Laci takes a look at a few types of food that can mess up your sleep cycle, and might even give you nightmares!


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"Usually, REM sleep occurs 90 minutes after sleep onset. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes, with each recurring REM stage lengthening, and the final one may last up to an hour."

Spicy meal disturbs sleep: an effect of thermoregulation?
"Tabasco sauce and mustard taken with the evening meal markedly disturbed sleep of six, young, healthy male subjects; reducing slow wave and stage 2 sleep, increasing total time awake and tending to increase sleep onset latency."

Does Sugar Give Kids Nightmares?
"While a certain amount of conventional lore linking sugar to nightmares exists, credible evidence of this effect is difficult to come by. If you or your children have had bad dreams after eating too much sugar, the association may seem natural to you."

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[A-Duck]

It's true, food gives you nightmares. I ate Vegemite once, didn't even need to fall asleep for the nightmare to begin, it was instantaneous.

[BigSad]

Nightmares > Dreams.
When you wake up from a nightmare, you feel relieved it's over.
When you wake up from a dream, you're sad because it's over.

[skibikeride]

I had a nightmare last night that I woke up in a dark room chained to a metal chair then an old tv flickered on with the word live blinking in a corner and there was my daughter tied to a chair just like me but she had cuts and bruises on her face then someone in a mask came and slit her throat with a knife. Then the tv went off and some shades opened and I saw my dead daughter through a window. Then I woke up.

[ThundersGamingTops]

I eat often before bed and rarely have nightmares, I think food before bed may be different for different people.

[melissamenchaca]

I always eat before going to bed and I can count the number of nightmares I've had in my entire life on one hand.

[JoyboyPs_Reviews]

I'm surprised that cheese wasn't mentioned.
Apparently if you eat cheese before going to bed, it causes strange/weird dreams.
You know those dreams that leave you thinking WTF in the morning
I've done this and it works (sometimes/most of the time).

[favorite]

am i the only one here who is eating a lot of food every night before i go to sleep
and never had a nightmare?

[sweaterofcathair]

The reason I looked this dream up is because last night before I went to bed I hate eaten a fairly large meal. Normally, I don't eat as much as I did but being on my menstrual cycle (not to be weird) always makes me even more hungry than usual.

Not only did I have a nightmare of being stabbed...I also had a dream that there was a plastic tube (like from an I.V.) stuck between my two lower teeth. I couldn't get it out so I had to use a scissors which kept cutting parts of my tongue off in the process. Those two dreams seemed to flow right after the other but I woke up for a short period of time and fell back to sleep.

I had even ANOTHER dream that I can recall. I honestly thought I was awake as the setting was that of my living room. However, I was drunk. I know what being drunk feels like, I'm 23 years old. However, in my dream it felt more helpless than anything. I could barely keep my eyes open and when I could they were rolling around everywhere unable to see clearly, only getting glimpses of my environment. Within that struggle of trying to keep my eyes open I noticed a man walking in my apartment that I had never seen before. At first he walked past me but when I opened my eyes again he had spotted me. I remember he had a brown shirt on but that's really all. Every time I opened my eyes he looked ready to attack or hurt me.~ That's all I can recall for now. Scary scary shit. 

[naomioliveira]

When I eat sugar before bed, I tend to have nightmares. Just woke up from one🥺
Usually I eat dinner around 4 to 5 PM but today I had some chocolate afterwards, which I usually avoid☹

[enddorb]

I haven't had nightmares in a LONG time. The closest is that one dream where my friends were pissing me off. I woke myself up by kicking one after he threw my computer out the window.

[asdfgoogle]

I had a dream last night (I had a large bagel about 1.5 - 2hrs before I went to bed), and it had velociraptors and a t-rex in it. It was scary, but cool. I enjoy "nightmares" (I quote it because I suppose if I enjoy it, it's not a nightmare).

What woke me up was after I tricked some raptors (I was in a small makeshift shelter with two entrances) to think I had left out the back door, I went out the other door and quickly found the drainage hole that I came up from while trying to escape where I was before (I forgot those details). I rushed over to the hole as I heard the raptors chasing me, but managed to jump down inside and close the hatch before they could get to me. I recall seeing some weird monster-creature down there, but only for a brief moment.

The dream ended with me entering into a house with the subconscious thought of a t-rex. I spotted one, then it roared as it began to smash it's face through the wood door (2 story, but very small house). There was a bathroom with a window in it just behind the front door. I hurried into the bathroom, then out the window as the t-rex forced itself in. My gf was actually in there on the 2nd floor (in the kitchen, no less). There was a small window and I was telling her to hurry through the window.... then I woke up.

[huskyrigatoni]

Aside from food there is medication you can take. Melatonin is a sleep inducer, and 5-HTP is for mood health, but it also increases your chances of lucid dreaming.

[mollie]

I don't eat within 3 hours of bedtime.  However, I have noticed that I am more likely to dream something "crazy" when I have had more carbs of any kind during the day.  Sometimes I even wake up hot and with my heart pounding.  I guess I should point out I am very carb sensitive so

[grennTA]

why would I not like to have some nightmares? dream bad or good are an exceptional experience that is impossible in the real life, like jumping from a skyscraper without dying, so nightmares or not give me the dreams and all the fun that comes with them.

[MsHojat]

I think it's plausible to say that it can affect sleep effectiveness, but I don't think that _any_ food has any affect on nightmares at all, nor the time the food is consumed before sleeping.

At the least, if it can be the case, I'd say it's only for some people, not generally everyone.

[BakusanDayo]

Ok, I don't usually remark on the host's appearance because it's almost always irrelevant to the topic of the video, but has is it just me or does it look like Laci shed some pounds?
Not that I think she looked bad before, but I think she is definitely healthier looking now. =)

[killaboo]

I have this re-occurring nightmare of having to call Microsoft customer support.

:'( They just wont. Stop. Transferring me!

[Beanskiiii]

I literally just woke up from a nightmare about 10 min. ago and to say the least it wasn't pleasant so I dis some quick research because I had a weird suspicion that ice cream covered chocolate cake my mom got me from red lobster probably affected me somehow.

It turns out that eating sweets before bed especially chocolate and ice cream or syrup can cause nightmares. I had all three at 2:30 AM. Don't do it guys.

[ashleyashleym]

This definietley does not apply to everyone because I eat right before I sleep and I haven't gotten a nightmare for years. And back when I used to get nightmares I ate two or three hours before I slept.

[AARONARROW]

I thought it was cheese that give you nightmares, it was probably a lie I like cheese