Dreams and Food

[lisagurl]

I was wondering if eating certain foods before bed gave certain kinds of dreams? and what kinds of foods?

I know walnuts before bed make dreams more vivid. Going back to the Romans people have connected dreams with food.

[Bethany W]

I always heard mushrooms and shellfish were the big ones for effecting dreams.

[buttercup]

I've had a few 'toxic' dreams as they are called on this Dream site I visited.  These are dreams that are sort of like nightmares, but different in that they are induced by eating foods that cause sleep disturbances.  I rarely eat after 7.30pm, but a few times I have had a vegitarian pizza late at night and whoa, my dreams were scary and weird.

[Lutin]

Hmm, don't really know... I do know I had some party pies and sausage rolls last night before bed, and then this morning, when I was at that weird half-asleep dozey stage, I had the *best* series of really short dreams. Almost worth trying again...

But then, of course, is it the food that's causing the wacky/weird/interesting dreams, or what you've been thinking about that day/just before you go to sleep? 'Cause that can influence dreams too...

[lady amarant]

It's commonly held amongst Afrikaners that eating meat shortly before going to bed is guaranteed to bring nightmares. Don't know if that's specifically true, but I do find that eating heavy, fatty foods in the evening definitely turn my dreams towards a darker shade.

~Simone.

[lisagurl]

I imagine throughout history various herbs have been used both in sleep and awake to create different realities.

[Bethany W]

I imagine throughout history various herbs have been used both in sleep and awake to create different realities.

Calea Zacatechichi (or dream herb) is a big dream inducer. So is Valerian.