Drinking a warm glass of milk helps relax before going to sleep According to experts, it can even keep you awake.
Scientists have discovered a surprising link between poor sleep and eating late-night snacks, especially dairy products and desserts.
In a recent study, researchers surveyed participants about their sleep quality, eating habits, and any perceived link between the two.
Participants completed questionnaires, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Nightmare Disorder Index, to assess their sleep and dream experiences.
The results showed that healthier eating habits in the evening led to better sleep and dreaming to remindwhile dairy, desserts, spicy foods and meat consumed before bed were linked to nightmares and insomnia.
The study also found a strong link between lactose intolerance and nightmares, with scientists suggesting that gastrointestinal problems or stomach pain at night could affect sleep quality.
Ultimately, experts say it’s unclear how the exact relationship between sleep and diet works, but they mainly found a strong link between lactose intolerance and poor sleep.
There is previous evidence that gastrointestinal problems and nighttime gastrointestinal symptoms can disrupt sleep – a 2019 study published in PubMed studied 2,752 participants and found that sleep disorders were associated with gastrointestinal disorders, including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
More generally, research into nocturnal reflux shows that when you sleep, the mechanisms that normally remove acid from the esophagus work less effectively and that nocturnal reflux can therefore cause sleep disruption.
Healthier evening habits lead to better sleep and dream recall, while consumption of dairy, desserts, spicy foods and meat products has been linked to nightmares and insomnia
In the recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers asked 1,082 college students — with an average age of 20 years — to complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a 19-item self-report questionnaire that measures sleep quality and disruptions over a one-month period, as well as the Nightmare Disorder Index, a short five-item questionnaire designed to screen for nightmares.
Participants were also asked about their diet, food intolerances, allergies, and the self-perceived effects of specific foods on their dreams.
More than 40 percent of participants said eating a late-night snack or specific food affected their sleep, for better or worse.
Twenty percent of participants said their sleep was improved by certain foods, such as fruits, herbal teas and vegetables. compared to 24.7 percent who said certain snacks, such as desserts, dairy products and spicy foods, made symptoms worse.
When researchers looked specifically at disturbing dreams after nighttime eating, they found that most participants had eaten dairy or desserts before bed.
Participants with lactose intolerance were significantly more likely to report that each late-night snack worsened their sleep.
Among those who said food negatively affected their sleep, 29.6 percent were lactose intolerant, compared to 19.5 percent of those who said food did not disrupt their sleep, the study said.
Researchers believe that gastrointestinal discomfort due to foods eaten before bedtime may be the cause of disturbed sleep, causing vivid or disturbing dreams.
“Nightmares are worse for people with lactose intolerance who suffer from severe gastrointestinal symptoms and whose sleep is disturbed,” said Dr. Tore Nielsen of the Université de Montréal, lead author of the study. Boundaries.
‘This makes sense, because we know that other physical sensations can influence dreaming.
“Nightmares can be very disruptive, especially if they occur frequently, as they tend to wake people from sleep in a dysphoric state,” says Nielsen.
Experts found a strong link between nightmares, poor sleep and lactose intolerance
‘They can also cause sleep avoidance behavior. Both symptoms can rob you of a good night’s sleep.’
Researchers also found that late-night snacking in general, regardless of the food, was linked to more negative dreams and nightmares.
Meanwhile, participants who rarely ate a late-night snack were more likely to remember their dreams than those who regularly ate before bed.
Dream recall is partly influenced by how often you wake up during the night and how you come out of a deep sleep.
‘These new findings imply that changing the eating habits of people with certain food sensitivities could alleviate nightmares. They could also explain why people so often blame dairy for bad dreams!’
The author noted several limitations, including that the study relied on self-reported survey data and did not use a random sample of the general population.
“We need to study more people of different ages, from different walks of life, and with different dietary habits to determine whether our results are truly generalizable to the larger population,” Nielsen said, adding that they would like to conduct an additional study in which participants ingest dairy products instead of a control food.
