# Whats the best food to eat in order to remember your dreams? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025 "2004-08-29T00:41:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moonlight\_Drive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Moonlight\_Drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlight_Drive)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/1 "2004-08-29T00:41:12Z")
Is there any food to eat at dinner or before bedtime that would help a person remember their dreams? ---
**Author:** ![gregongie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@gregongie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregongie)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/2 "2004-08-29T00:52:05Z")
I have no real evidence to back me up, but I’m fairly certain food is not a factor in bettering your recollection of dreams. However, Freud gave the following advice in his “Interpretations of Dreams”: Write down the dream in as much detail immediately after you wake up. I’ve never had the will-power to do it myself, but I have found that if I keep the dream in mind for a long enough period in the morning, I tend to remember more later in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/3 "2004-08-29T00:56:10Z")
Cantaloupe, pizza, and Gorgonzola cheese just before bedtime ought to do the trick 😃 . ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/4 "2004-08-29T00:58:47Z")
Mushrooms and cough syrup. But I assume you meant edible foods. I know hypoglycemia can give you very vivid nightmares. I had them once and I could barely sleep for a week. Sorry I can’t help. I know i’ve heard of tons of foods and dietary supplements giving vivid dreams but I can’t remember them right now. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/5 "2004-08-29T01:03:08Z")
Friskies Cat Food (“Ocean Platter” flavor) w/ Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/6 "2004-08-29T01:22:06Z")
7th Floor! Opinions, and notions! All out! Moved from GQ **samclem** GQ moderator. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/7 "2004-08-29T01:24:53Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I know i’ve heard of tons of foods and dietary supplements giving vivid dreams but I can’t remember them right now. ZMA and melatonin together have an impressive effect. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/8 "2004-08-29T02:01:31Z")
Safeway™ brand apple pie, _a la mode._ I’m not sure if it _helps_ me remember dreams, or just makes them so memorable and weird that they’re hard to forget. Either one works for me. And my dad claims that the allergy medication Allegra gives him “hideous monkey-nightmares.” That never happens to me, though. ---
**Author:** ![suezeekay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@suezeekay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suezeekay)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/9 "2004-08-29T02:57:20Z")
I second Melatonin; it gives me very vivid dreams. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/10 "2004-08-29T03:31:50Z")
As best I can recall from my understanding of dreams and sleep states/cycles, dreams are typically remembered when the subject awakens during the dream, in the REM sleep stage. This being the case, if you specifically wanted to remember your dreams, you might be inclined to eat foods that would cause you to sleep poorly, in order to force yourself to awaken several times during the night. Perhaps caffiene, or anything that gives you heartburn? ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/11 "2004-08-29T04:45:29Z")
Don’t ask for a cite…But I remember reading somewhere tha Bananas can cause vivid nightmares. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sami41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@Sami41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sami41)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/12 "2004-08-29T11:07:15Z")
Milk, or any dairy product. My Dad won’t partake in dairy before bed because it “makes him dream.” I’m sure he dreams every night, but the dairy makes him remember the dreams, which he doesn’t like. I like to remember (most of) my dreams. I drink a lot of milk anyway, but specifically, I wake up many times every night and have a few glugs. I usually can remember my dreams for the first hour or so that I’m awake, but if I don’t tell someone or write them down they tend to fade with time. As someone mentioned above, it may be the milk waking me during REM, thereby allowing me to ‘remember’ my dreams. I’m not sure, but I do like it. YMMV ~S ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/13 "2004-08-29T11:19:56Z")
> [@Moonlight Drive](#): > > Is there any food to eat at dinner or before bedtime that would help a person remember their dreams? fish (the fresher the better) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-food-to-eat-in-order-to-remember-your-dreams/262025/14 "2004-08-29T19:21:26Z")
Fungi from Yuggoth Doctor Shrewsbury’s Mead-For those unaware, mead is fermented honey. Shrewsbury developed his recipe based on ancient texts. Not only does it aid in remembering dreams, it also makes one very drowsy. The right kind of lotus- four petals deep blues and blacks, the colors of sleep. One petal fire red for dreams.