• Posted July 2, 2025

Could Dairy Be Causing Your Bad Dreams?

Having bad dreams after eating ice cream or cheese? Your stomach may be trying to tell you something.

New research shows that people with worse symptoms of lactose intolerance tended to report more frequent nightmares, NBC News reported.

The research, published July 1 in Frontiers in Psychology, looked at the eating and sleeping habits of more than 1,000 people. It’s a followup to a 2015 study of food and dreams.

“In the earlier study, people were blaming cheese all the time for their bad dreams,” said study co-author Tore Nielsen, a psychiatry professor at the University of Montreal. "I think we got some better answers in the study for that."

Participants filled out a detailed survey as part of a college psychology class. Those who said they had severe digestive symptoms from eating dairy also reported more nightmares.

That included more frequent bad dreams, greater emotional distress from the dreams and longer-lasting effects that sometimes interfered with daily life.

The foods most often blamed for the nightmares were dairy and sweets, NBC News said.

Experts say stomach trouble could be disturbing sleep in ways that affect dreaming.

“If you have GI issues, that could account for a lot of what’s happening in terms of your sleep disturbances that could be associated with different dreams,” said Marie-Pierre St-Onge, director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research at Columbia University.

If someone eats a trigger food for their lactose intolerance, that can cause sleep disruptions known as "micro-arousals," Patrick McNamara, a neurologist at Boston University who studies sleep and dreams, told NBC News.

These disruptions may make nightmares feel more intense.

Still, experts warn that the study doesn’t prove dairy directly causes nightmares. Other unknown factors could also be involved.

Researchers also hope to test other groups to gain even more insights.

In the meantime, people who suspect dairy is disturbing their sleep might try cutting back.

You can look at your diet and make small changes without needing a doctor to help, Nielsen added.

More information

The University of Michigan School of Public Health has more on the best diet for healthy sleep.

SOURCE: NBC News, July 1, 2025