Food and beliefs have been linked for centuries. Anecdotal evidence suggests that specific foods, such as cheese, may cause unusual or vivid dreams. While scientific evidence remains limited, some surveys suggest that dietary choices, such as fast food or organic food, may influence dream content and recall. Â
Nielsen and Powell found that approximately 17.8% of students experience food-influenced dreams, specifically those associated with dairy products. These dreams were more frequent and disturbed the link between emotional eating and binge eating behaviors. GI distress, food-specific effects, cultural beliefs, diet-induced sleep change, and misattributions are some of the possible explanations. Emerging research studies suggest that diet can influence sleep quality, which affects the frequency and nature of dreams and nightmares.Â
Approximately 1082 psychology students from MacEwan University participated in an online survey about sleep, food, and dreams. This study was demographically diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion, and gender. Data was extracted by Qualtrics from January to April 2023, with informed consent and full ethical approval. This survey involved custom and validated measures that covered the health, demographics, dream experience, and dietary habits of participants. Key tools included the Nightmare Disorder Index (NDI), emotional tone, dream recall ratings, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for nightmares and sleep quality. The food-dream relationship was evaluated using the Food-Dependent Dreaming (FDD) questionnaire. Diet-related behavior was assessed by the Healthy Eating Assessment (HEA), Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) for mental health. Other assessments include gastrointestinal symptoms (GISQ), food sensitivities, and patterns of overeating and night eating (EAH and NEQ). Â
This comprehensive study aimed to investigate the real and perceived link between food intake, dream characteristics, and sleep quality, taking into consideration psychological and health variables that can affect these associations. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 26 for Windows, employing linear regression and factor analysis to reduce multiple-item responses. Spearman correlation was utilized for the non-Gaussian response, with P-values of α = 0.05 indicating statistical significance. Graphs and results were visualized using GraphPad Prism 9.Â
About 40.2% of participants showed that specific foods either improved (20.1%) or worsened (24.7%) their sleep. Approximately 5.5% of participants showed that food affected their sleep. The perceived influence of food on dreams was linked with high nightmare recall and NDI scores, with variations attributed to sweets or desserts (31%) and dairy (22%). These effects were associated with gluten intolerance and food allergy. Poor sleep perceptions were linked to lactose intolerance. NDI scores were highly associated with lactose intolerance and food allergy. Healthy eating, such as eating less in the evening, can lead to increased dream recall. Unhealthy eating behaviors, such as overeating at night, experiencing GI symptoms, or ignoring hunger/fullness cues, were associated with more negative dream content and frequent nightmares.Â
These findings support the food-specific effects hypothesis, the sleep disturbance model, and the GI distress theory to varying degrees. The study replicates earlier findings linking dietary habits to dream features, with an emphasis on the role of food sensitivities, particularly lactose intolerance. These insights have significant implications for understanding how diet can affect sleep quality and the occurrence of nightmares. They may also inform the development of non-pharmacological approaches to managing sleep-related disturbances.Â
Reference: Nielsen T, Radke J, Picard-Deland C, Powell RA. More dreams of the rarebit fiend: food sensitivity and dietary correlates of sleep and dreaming. Front Psychol. 2025;16:1544475. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1544475Â
