If I want to have some really freaking weird dreams all that i have to do is eat something weird right before i go to sleep. What is up with that I don’t get nightmares just really weird dreams. I’m not complaining I enjoy really weird dreams but I want to know why! And why weird food before i go to sleep not something normal like a salad.
It’s time for another guess from Beadalin! Huzzah!
The same thing happens to me, especially if said food is also rich. I’ve always figured that the weird dreams are the result of my body having something new in it, something it’s not used to dealing with. I have weird dreams whenever something in my environment is different, be it temperature, scent, a limb asleep, what have you. The odd food gives my tummy something it’s not accustomed to, and that feeling permeates my dreams.
That’s what I think, anyway.
I think certain foods release chemicals in the brain which in turn affect brain waves which regulate some patterns of thought as well as dreams. Many people have nightmares if they eat spicy foods before bed. If you enjoy these weird dreams (and I do to) here are to experiments to try:
Experiment #1: About 2 hours before bed eat a serving of cheese, 2 bananas, and drink 1 can of beer. DO NOT DRINK MORE THAN 1 CAN!!! The chemicals this combo of food produces can greatly increase dream activity, including “weird dreams” and, uh, nocturnal emissions.
Experiment #2: On a night when you are drop dead tired, and I mean so beat that as soon as your head hits the pillow you’ll be out cold, immediately before climbing into bed take 100mg of caffeine in tablet form(i.e. No Doze). The caffeine should not wake you up because you will be in a deep sleep for almost an hour before it is digested and kicks in. Instead, the drug increases brain activity and keeps you in R.E.M level for most of the night, producing some of the weirdest, wildest, most f**ked up dreams you have ever had! It’s a trip I’ve been taking every so often for the last 20 years! Report your results back here, along with recipes for “weird” food.
I never noticed a food-dream relation, but back a few years ago the Body Shop was selling brown bath beads, aromatherapy style, I think the name was “Relaxing”. I noticed if I took a bath with a couple of them dissolved in the water just before I went to bed, my dreams were unusually vivid. Unfortunately, they don’t make them anymore, apparently one of the “natural” ingredients is no longer available.
And incidentally, is anyone familiar with “lucid dreaming”, where as you dream you are AWARE you are dreaming, and can to a certain extent control your dream content? I’m occasionally able to do this, it’s fascinating, but it doesn’t always work when I wish it would (i.e. during nightmares).
In my ill-titled recent thread about this subject, someone posted a link to an old comic strip which centered on wierd food dreams after eating ‘rarebit’. Here’s that thread: More of gravy than the grave.
And for caircair, here’s another thread about remembering dreams & lucid dreaming : Remembering dreams.
pkbites, do you know of any studies (aside from your own) on food causing dreams? The evidence seems to be there, I’m just wondering if it’s been researched.
panama jack
Has anyone else ever heard that red velvet cake is supposed to give the eater weird dreams? Probably just an urban legend but I thought I would throw it out anyway.