(NewsNation) — A new study suggests that your choice of late-night snacks could be fueling your nightmares, with dairy products being one of the lead culprits.
In the study, which was published Monday, more than 1,000 college students were surveyed on their sleep and eating habits, as well as their perceived link between the two. Researchers found that participants who experienced lactose intolerance symptoms during the night were more likely to report having intense nightmares.
“Nightmare severity is robustly associated with lactose intolerance and other food allergies,” Dr. Tore Nielsen of Université de Montréal, lead author of the study, said in a EurekAlert! news release. “These new findings imply that changing eating habits for people with some food sensitivities could alleviate nightmares. They could also explain why people so often blame dairy for bad dreams.”
Roughly 40% of participants reported that certain foods either worsened or improved their sleep. Meanwhile, 5.5% of participants reported that food affected their dreams, with changes being predominantly blamed on dairy at 22% and sweets/desserts at 31%.
According to the researchers, the findings support the “notion that specific food-induced symptoms such as bloating, cramping or excess gas arising during sleep have a negative impact on dreaming.”
This isn’t the first study to explore possible links between food and dreams. The study highlights previous research efforts and even calls attention to a cartoon from 1913 that suggests cheese sandwiches could trigger odd dreams.
“We need to study more people of different ages, from different walks of life, and with different dietary habits to determine if our results are truly generalizable to the larger population,” Nielsen said.