WEBVTT - Does Your Diet Really Affect Your Dreams?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Bogabam Here. If you've ever had

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<v Speaker 1>a meat lover's stuffed pressed pizza before bed and then

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<v Speaker 1>spent your dreams being chased around by a saber toothed,

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<v Speaker 1>willed beast wearing a top hat, you might have blamed

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<v Speaker 1>this bizarre and unsettling experience on your evening snack. This

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<v Speaker 1>tendency is so prevalent, yet any hard data is so

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<v Speaker 1>lacking that a study published in the journal Frontiers in

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<v Speaker 1>Psychology endeavored to crack this supposed a relationship between diet

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<v Speaker 1>and dreams. For the article that this episode is based

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<v Speaker 1>on how stuff works. That spoke by email with study

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<v Speaker 1>co author Dr Torrey Nielsen, psychiatry professor and director of

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<v Speaker 1>the Dream and Nightmare Laboratory at the Center for Advanced

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<v Speaker 1>Research in Sleep Medicine at the University of Montreal. He said,

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<v Speaker 1>there's extremely little information available and all so some important

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<v Speaker 1>misinformation that keeps getting recycled. This research was motivated in

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<v Speaker 1>large part by the media itself. Questions about food and

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<v Speaker 1>dreams are among the most frequent questions we are asked.

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<v Speaker 1>These questions come up particularly around food center holidays, which

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<v Speaker 1>in our culture most holidays are the most commonly blamed

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<v Speaker 1>nightmare inducing culprits are cheese, spicy foods, and eating too

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<v Speaker 1>much right before bedtime? But is there any truth to

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<v Speaker 1>this folklore? Nielsen and his team surveyed nearly four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>participants on a range of topics such as sleep and

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<v Speaker 1>diet quality, and asked them to report whether they thought

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<v Speaker 1>food affected their dreams or not. Almost eighteen percent of

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<v Speaker 1>the participants indicated that they thought eating certain foods or

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<v Speaker 1>eating right before bed made a difference in the development

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<v Speaker 1>of disturbing dreams, with dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt,

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<v Speaker 1>and ice cream, as well as pizza being the most

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<v Speaker 1>commonly listed by thirty of participants. Also blamed for disturbing dreams,

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<v Speaker 1>but to a lesser extent than dairy, were foods of

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<v Speaker 1>the spicy, starchy, or meat based varieties. Overall, sweets and

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<v Speaker 1>chocolates were the second most frequently mentioned category for dream

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<v Speaker 1>inducing foods after dairy, but they were considered most likely

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<v Speaker 1>to foster bizarre dreams not necessarily unpleasant but still strange,

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<v Speaker 1>like being able to fly, as opposed to more disturbing dreams.

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<v Speaker 1>Like being chased by a werewolf. The second part of

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<v Speaker 1>the study delved deeper into the subjects themselves. Nielsen explained,

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<v Speaker 1>when we broke down our sample into subjects who reported

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<v Speaker 1>disturbing dreams and those who reported vivid but not disturbing dreams,

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<v Speaker 1>we found that there were two very different profiles. Disturbed

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<v Speaker 1>dreamers at higher pathological indicators like poorer sleep, binge eating,

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<v Speaker 1>or emotional eating, whereas the vivid dreamers had high your

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<v Speaker 1>wellness indicators like better sleep, healthier diet, and longer times

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<v Speaker 1>between eating, what we consider a proxy measure of fasting.

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<v Speaker 1>The fasting note struck a chord with the scientists because

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<v Speaker 1>various cultures have long documented the effect of the practice

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<v Speaker 1>on dreams. Nielsen said the finding for fasting in particular

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<v Speaker 1>was of interest because of very old literature documenting how

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<v Speaker 1>different peoples have used fasting to induce the recall of

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<v Speaker 1>spiritual and life guiding dreams called vivid dreams. In our study,

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<v Speaker 1>although it might be a stretch to recommend fasting if

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<v Speaker 1>you're looking for some type of nocturnal intervention, it's certainly

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<v Speaker 1>preferable to dream vividly in place of a nightmare starring

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<v Speaker 1>a deranged as murderer. There are any number of theories

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<v Speaker 1>on why certain foods affect our dreams, and certainly people

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<v Speaker 1>with certain health considerations like gastrosophageal reflux disease, have different

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<v Speaker 1>sensitivities than others. How stuff works also spoke by email

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<v Speaker 1>with Amy corn Reavis of Emery Sleep Solutions in Orlando, Florida.

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<v Speaker 1>She explained foods that affect gastrosophical reflex disease tend to

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<v Speaker 1>be either spicy or fatty foods. The closer you eat

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<v Speaker 1>them to bedtime, the more likely they are to affect you.

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<v Speaker 1>This is because they are heavier and produce more acids

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<v Speaker 1>to digest. This causes people with weak muscles at the

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<v Speaker 1>top of their stomach to have acid move into their esophagus.

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<v Speaker 1>This effort may impact the time and length of valuable

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<v Speaker 1>R e M sleep, thereby affecting the type and duration

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<v Speaker 1>of dreams. She added that spikes or drops in blood

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<v Speaker 1>glucose levels, especially from desserts and other foods high and

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<v Speaker 1>simple sugars, may also affect R e M sleep, but

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<v Speaker 1>that there isn't solid research yet to back all of

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<v Speaker 1>this up. It seems that indeed the study of these

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<v Speaker 1>phenomena is just beginning. Nielsen said, we need to start

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<v Speaker 1>experimental studies that systematically vary what people eat and when,

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<v Speaker 1>and whether this induces any regular change in their dream content.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article Pizza Nightmares. Can

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<v Speaker 1>your diet Determine Your Dreams? On how stuff works dot Com?

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<v Speaker 1>Written by Leo Hoyt. Brain Stuff is production by Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com and

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<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts for my

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows