Do Certain Foods Cause Certain Dreams?

What you eat affects your dreams?

Some think so.

Maybe the food affects the experience of your dream, not necessarily the content.

Every so often, when I’m doing research for this blog, this idea crops up. No proof is offered, it seems to be assumed.

The relationship between food and dreams

There’s a relationship between food and sleep, of course. If you eat a meal and lie down afterward, you might regurgitate and wake up. When it comes to sleep, digesting your food before you lay down is better.

There’s a relationship, too, between nutrition and sleep, too. When you eat right, weigh the right amount, and take care of all that, your body generally works better. That’s a fact, and that extends to sleep.

That might affect any dream you might have.

A European tradition says if a woman sleeps with a piece of wedding cake under her pillow she’ll dream of her future husband.

It’s fanciful. Maybe it’s worked for someone before. Who knows? Applying too much logic to life can drain the fun out of it. I will say that there’s no way to know for sure.

As for me, it sounds like a joke that might be played on a young woman. Getting her to believe it would have her waking up with a piece of cake smashed to her face and in her hair.

Dietary misinformation

They’ll try to implicate caffeine and bad dreams. Or spicy and fatty foods. Or alcohol.

No. Those things mess up your sleep. They’ll make you tired. They’ll make it less likely that you sleep well. If you wake up during the night, you’re not going to sleep as well. It’s a fact. That doesn’t mean that leads to a bad dream, no dreams, or a lot of dreams.

None of it should matter for the seeker of wisdom and lover of personal growth. Of course, you should avoid going to sleep drunk or drinking a lot of caffeine late in the day. Your day-to-day experiences influence your dreams, and your hopes and aspirations. Accept that and you’re better off. If they were some mere aberration caused by chili peppers, that wouldn’t be worth paying attention to.

Concern yourself with the important things like eating a healthy diet. Don’t put things in your body that will hurt you. Concentrate on putting the big rocks in the box and understanding your dreams.

 

James Cobb RN, MSN is the founder of the Dream Recovery System, the top website dedicated to the promotion of dream journaling and sleeping well.

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