Cheese Does Not Cause Nightmares. Here Is What Actually Happens

A nightmare is a vivid, upsetting dream that often wakes you up and stays with you the next morning. For more than a century, people have blamed cheese for them, especially a late-night slice of something strong and aged. The research tells a different story. No study has shown that cheese itself creates bad dreams.

That does not mean your late-night cheese plate is innocent. What you eat, how much, and how close to bedtime can change how you sleep and how much you remember of your dreams. For some people, dairy really is part of the problem.

The cheese myth is old. In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens has Scrooge dismiss the ghost of Marley as nothing more than a crumb of cheese or an undigested bit of beef. The line stuck, and so did the belief.

In 2005, the British Cheese Board tried to put the myth to rest. They gave 200 volunteers a small piece of cheese before bed for a week and asked them to record their dreams. They reported that nobody had nightmares and most people slept well. That result was widely shared, but keep two things in mind. The study was run by the cheese industry, and it was never published in a scientific journal. It makes a fun story, not strong evidence.

Is There Anything in Cheese That Could Affect Dreams?

Two natural compounds in cheese usually get the blame.

Tryptophan. This is an amino acid your body uses to make serotonin and melatonin, the hormone that signals night. If anything, tryptophan is linked to sleep, not to disturbing it. A normal portion of cheese also contains far too little to change much in your brain.

Tyramine. This compound builds up as cheese ages, so it is higher in aged cheddar, blue cheese, and stilton. Tyramine can prompt the release of noradrenaline, a chemical tied to alertness. For most people, the body clears tyramine quickly. No published study has tested whether tyramine from a normal serving of cheese changes dreams.

Both compounds are real. Neither has been shown to cause nightmares in healthy people eating ordinary amounts.

What Does the Research Actually Show?

The best recent look at food and dreams came from a 2025 study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 young adults about their diet, food sensitivities, sleep quality, and nightmares. About 4 in 10 people said certain foods changed their sleep. Only about 1 in 20 said food changed their dreams. Among those who did, sweets and desserts were blamed most often, and dairy came second, named by roughly 1 in 5 of that group.

The more interesting finding was why. People with lactose intolerance had more severe nightmares, and that link ran through their gut symptoms. In other words, the problem was not the cheese turning into a bad dream. It was the bloating, cramping, and discomfort that dairy caused in people who could not digest it well. That discomfort disrupted sleep, and disrupted sleep was tied to darker dreams. Eating late in the evening was also linked to more nightmares, while people who ate less in the evening remembered their dreams more often overall.

So Why Do Some People Dream More After a Cheese Plate?

Three things are likely going on, and none of them are about cheese specifically. Heavy food can make sleep lighter. Cheese is rich in fat and protein, which digest slowly. A 2023 study gave healthy young men a high-fat, high-sugar diet for one week and then measured their sleep in a lab. They slept just as long, but their deep sleep was shallower than after a lighter diet. That trial was small and only included men, but it fits with what many people notice after a big late meal.

Waking up during a dream makes you remember it. Most vivid dreaming happens in REM sleep, which gets longer toward morning. Think of a dream like a movie playing in a dark theater. You only remember the scene if the lights come on in the middle of it. When indigestion, heartburn, or a full bladder wakes you during REM, you walk out holding the last scene. Your dreams were not worse. You just caught more of them.

Gut discomfort can color the dream. If dairy upsets your stomach, that physical unease during the night may feed into more unpleasant dreams, which is exactly the pattern the 2025 survey found. It is the timing and the digestion, not the cheese.

Stop worrying about cheese itself. If you eat cheese in the evening and sleep fine, there is no reason to give it up.

Watch the timing. Try to finish heavy or rich meals two to three hours before bed. A small piece of cheese is very different from a late pizza or a full charcuterie board.

Keep late snacks small. If you are hungry before bed, a modest portion is less likely to disturb your sleep than a full meal.

Pick aged cheeses if lactose bothers you. Hard, aged cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, and Swiss contain very little lactose. Soft and fresh cheeses like ricotta and cottage cheese contain more. Lactase tablets, sold over the counter under names like Lactaid, can also help when you eat dairy.

DrSnoozz Says

Cheese does not cause nightmares. The compounds people blame, tryptophan and tyramine, have never been shown to create bad dreams at normal portions. The real drivers are timing and digestion. A heavy, late meal can make your sleep lighter, and waking during REM sleep means you remember more of your dreams. For people with lactose intolerance, dairy-related gut discomfort may be linked to more nightmares. If cheese sits fine with you, enjoy it. If it doesn’t, eat earlier, choose aged cheeses, or try lactose-free options. And if nightmares happen often, that is worth a conversation with a sleep doctor, not a change in your snack drawer.

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Disclaimer: This article is for general education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always talk to your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider about any questions you have regarding a medical condition, medication, food intolerance, or change to your sleep routine.

References

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2. Nielsen, T., Radke, J., Picard-Deland, C., & Powell, R. A. (2025). More dreams of the rarebit fiend: Food sensitivity and dietary correlates of sleep and dreaming. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1544475. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1544475
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