Does Cheese Affect Our Dreams?

8 August 2017, 16:48 | Updated: 8 August 2017, 18:22

Cheese
Picture: The Mystey Hour

Is there anything in cheese that interferes with our dreams?

Question

What effect does cheese have on dreams?

Charlie, Reigate

Answer

Despite a number of scientific studies over the past few years - all of which were inconclusive - there is no direct link between cheese and dreams. Eating cheese late at night can cause indigestion which interrupts sleep, particularly the REM period, in which dreams occur. The mythical link between dreams and cheese came from Dickens’ Scrooge, who blamed his ghostly visits on a ‘crumb of cheese’.

Tom, Oxford

Qualification: Writing a book about a series of dreamlike paintings he created after the death of his father.