Does eating late at night cause nightmares for you?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

I had some Indian food a little later in the evening yesterday than I would normally eat. A couple of hours later, I had a REALLY bad nightmare. Like, I woke up on the floor punching and kicking at the air. I know my cats were all like “WTF, woman!!” I have nightmares occasionally, but nothing like this.

As soon as I got resettled in bed, I instantly remembered that leftover tikka chicken masala. It was so good going down, but maybe I shouldn’t have had it as a late night snack?

Has something like this ever happened to you?

#2

No. Food has never caused me nightmares. Playing race car video games causes me nightmares, but food never has.

#3

It’s funny - I’ve never noticed any particular connection, but last night I ate food unusually late, and I had my first nightmare in a while. It involved really, really big cockroaches. Then again, right before falling asleep I saw this picture on reddit, which could’ve planted the idea (I’d warn fellow cockroach-phobes, but I reckon the subject of the picture is pretty obvious).

#4

Never. I eat at weird hours, and I’m a night person, so I’m glad of it!

#5

Yes…took a nap after eating shrimp scampi in Mazatlan…I couldnt escape a dude chasing after me with a butcher knife…just as he caught me I awoke…:o

#6

I rarely eat at night anymore, but I doubt if it would matter. I haven’t had a nightmare since I was about 10 years old. I don’t have acid reflux anymore, either.

#7

No. It causes weight gain. That is why I try my best to abstain from it.

#8

Yes, and I realized it a long time ago.

#9

When I ate coconut oil once before bed it gave me nightmares, so I never bothered again.

#10

That’s just a longstanding myth I understand. The more modern view is “a calorie is a calorie”.

I don’t get nightmares, but I do often get a stomach ache if I go to bed with a full stomach. I’ve sometimes wondered if it was the same phenomenon manifesting differently; a digestive upset that makes the stomach of one person hurt causing nightmares for someone else.

#11

No and Iregularly eat before bed. I can’t eat for a while after I wake and I’m a night person so no way I am waking up 1-2 hours earlier just so my body doesn’t threaten to expel breakfast. Eating before bed is one of the ways I manage to get enough calories down my throat in a day. It also helps me make it to a lunchtime dictated by the clocks of the silly daywalkers I have to disguise myself among. :stuck_out_tongue:

I like spicy foods as well so it’s not a matter of just eating bland before sleep. I rarely remember dreams though (nightmares that wake me up being one of the notable exceptions). Potentially the food does all kinds of crazy things and I just am blissfully unaware.

#12

Nightmares from food is a symptom of trying to digest, usually fatty, foods. You have to eat the right foods, a proper snack before bed stabilizes blood sugar throughout the night preventing sluggishness in the morning and promotes weight loss just as eating smaller meals throughout the day is helpful towards controlling how much you eat as a whole by end of day, preventing binge eating evening meals.

I’m nearly 40, ever since I balanced my diet and ate foods in moderations, supplements and a very basic weight lift routine with arm curl bar, I feel fantastic, I wake up easier in the morning, good moods, energy levels, never get sick…etc. At times feel euphoric with occasional body buzz No wonder all those workout freaks on TV used to seem so happy all the time.

Quite the opposite as I previously mentioned. Weight gain isn’t on a 24 hour clock, it’s all about the caloric intake to burn ratio. Eating multiples of smaller meals throughout the day and just before bed and if necessary using shakes to replace no more than 2 of those meals that provide amino acids, vitamins…etc and of course you need some fat to reduce hunger. But that depends what you eat though, if you eat 8oz lean steak daily for example, you won’t need the protein shake but I personally rarely get that opportunity so I have to replace my breakfast and after lunch snack with a shake.

It is really true that you can wake up and feel like 16 again, that we really are what we eat. That change in habit and learning the best eating routine daily is what’s hard. After a while, I don’t ever crave junk like I used to, it never even crosses my mind nowadays.

#13

100%, if I eat anything substantial after 630pm I will have vivid dreams that night. They aren’t always nightmares, but they are usually intense enough to prevent me from getting a good night’s sleep.

#14

Same here if I eat less than 3 hours before bed. I’d rather wake up starving than have a bad night’s sleep.

#15

Sorry for my lack of clarity on my previous post. What I should have elaborated on is that if I’ve consumed enough calories for the day, and then on top of that I eat more just before bed, it’s a recipe for weight gain. Of course it may depend on what it is that I eat, and what my level of activity was on that particular day. I’m in good shape, but in my 50s now, and have to be more careful than ever.