Does Eating Cheese Before Bedtime Really Give You Nightmares?

#1

You know that feeling when you really want to eat a cheese toastie while you binge on Gilmore Girls before bed, but you don’t want to give yourself nightmares? It’s a constant internal battle. The idea that eating cheese will lead to really scary dreams seems to be ingrained in all of us, but science says it’s not entirely true. Just hear us out for a minute...

#2

The myth can be traced back as far as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, in which Ebenezer Scrooge believed his ghostly apparitions were down to a crumb of cheese he ate before bed.

Nah, you were just really mean.

So the British Cheese Board decided to ‘put the myth to bed’, and carried out a study on 200 people to see what would happen if they ate cheese before they went to sleep.

#3

In 2005 The British Cheese Board carried out a study in which a number of people were given a 3 ounce piece of cheese to eat just before bedtime. Different people were given different types of cheese and a report was then taken to record the dreams and nightmares of all the participants to detect any patterns.

Overall, the good news for the Cheese Board was that an impressive 75% of the participants said they slept pretty well each night, with no occurrence of nightmares. Additionally, most of them said that they could clearly remember their dreams. This led to the conclusion that the essential amino acid in milk, and therefore cheese – tryptophan – was having its effect on the cheese eaters by stabilising their sleep patterns and reducing stress levels.

Yep, you can control your dreams with cheese.

Here’s all you need to know.

#4 Blue cheese

Blue cheese gives you ‘wacky’ dreams, says Nigel. They’re not nightmarish – they’re just a bit odd.

For example, he recalls, ‘One of the volunteers said that she dreamed of a vegetarian crocodile who was upset because he couldn’t eat children. And another one dreamed that they had soldiers fighting with each other with kittens instead of guns.’

#5 Cheddar

If you want to dream of Ryan Gosling, go for good old Cheddar. ‘Cheddar is the most eaten cheese in this country, and there seemed to be a theme there where the volunteers were dreaming of celebrities,’ says Nige.

#6 Stilton cheese

Stilton cheese produced the most vivid, unusual and downright strange dreams. These included talking soft toys, lifts that move sideways and soldiers fighting each other with kittens instead of guns. Not nightmares, but certainly very off the wall dreams. Stilton could be a great choice if you work in a creative environment and require some story fuel.

#7 Cheshire cheese

Of all the cheeses eaten, Cheshire cheese led to a peaceful, night’s sleep without any dreams at all. So, if you want a peaceful night’s sleep with no interruptions, this is the cheese for you.

#8

All these strange goings-on while you sleep happen because cheese contains several compounds, including tryptamine and tyramine, which are believed to influence the brain’s chemical systems.

Basically, it means that while cheese hasn’t been proven to give you nightmares, it does influence what you dream about. So choose your cheese toastie toppings wisely...