CLAIM: "If you eat candy before bed you're gonna have nightmares!"
- true fact or strategic parenting?
Hey everyone, Laci Green here.
You know, for the longest time I believed that sugar gave me nightmares.
I think it started when I was really little and my parents were trying to deter me from
eating too much candy.
Come to find out, it's not just sugar...there is a relationship between eating in general
and having nightmares.
So basically just...stop eating guys.
Small price to pay right?
When you eat, you rev up your metabolism to process the food you've just consumed, boosting
your body's temperature.
Which is interesting because at least for me, nightmares are always a really hot, sweaty
affair.
And not in a sexy way.
These metabolic processes and digestion increase brain activity while you sleep, and all that
interference can cause some disturbance.
If your body is working hard enough, the effects may bleed into REM, which occurs about 90
minutes into your sleep.
REM, or Rapid Eye Movement, is the phase of the sleep cycle where all the action happens.
Your eyes are fluttering behind your eyelids, your muscles relax, and your brain is really
active.
REM is the phase where the majority of your dreams and nightmares happen.
Because nightmares are the type of dreams that have the power to freak us out and wake
us up, people are more likely to remember a nightmare than a dream.
And FYI everyone dreams, every night - some people don't think they dream, but they just
don't remember them.
We tend to remember dreams that are happening in the morning when we're about to wake up.
Some crazy stuff, huh?
So, going back to the full stomach thing -- it's not just being full that could interfere with
your sleep.
Spicy foods can also trigger bad dreams because they're a little harder for your body to digest.
One study in the International Journal of Psychophysiology found that spicy foods disturbed
ALL their participants' sleep -- but it was a really small study.
The scientists think this could be related to the fact that spicy foods elevate our body
temperature.
And what of the candy and junk food?
Ice cream and brownies, cakes and pies?
Sugar sugar sugar?
Most studies find no definitive conclusion that "more sugar=more nightmares", but one
study published in the Journal of the Mind and Body found that ice cream and candy bars
may increase brain wave activity while you're digesting.
About 70% of the participants that were fed junk food a half hour before bed had nightmares.
But there's no evidence yet that it's the sugar ITSELF and not just eating right before
bed that's causing problems.
The takeaway here: if you don't want nightmares, let your body do most its digesting BEFORE
you go to sleep.
Do you notice any difference when you go to bed on a full stomach?
Let me know down below.
Sweet dreams, everyone!