Ever wake up from a wild nightmare and blame the late-night ice cream? Science says you might be onto something. A new study published in Frontiers in Psychology has found a clear link between what you eat — especially dairy — and the dreams that keep you up at night.
Researchers from the University of Montreal surveyed over 1,000 college students and discovered that people with lactose intolerance were far more likely to report vivid, unsettling dreams. Nearly 22% of foods blamed for nightmares were dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt. The culprit? Not the cheese itself, but the digestive discomfort it causes. Bloating and cramps can disrupt sleep, and your gut can “talk” to your brain through the gut-brain axis — turning tummy trouble into nightmare fuel.
While dairy ranked high, desserts and sweets took the top spot, making up almost 30% of foods linked to bad dreams. Spicy foods, meats, and cereals also made the troublemaker list, while fruits, veggies, and calming herbal teas were linked to better sleep.
Timing matters too. Late-night snacking or “night eating” was strongly tied to more frequent nightmares. Eating too close to bedtime gives your digestive system too much work just as you’re trying to drift off, which can mess with your sleep cycle and make unsettling dreams more likely.
If you struggle with nightmares, simple diet tweaks might help more than you think. Try skipping dairy and heavy snacks before bed, especially if you have lactose intolerance. A calm gut might just mean calmer dreams, too. And who knows — maybe the secret to sweet dreams really is as simple as what’s on your plate.
