Eating cheese at night can do more than disrupt sleep.
According to a recent study sponsored by the British Cheese Board, the long-held myth that cheese can seriously affect your night’s sleep might have some truth to it. Researchers found that different types of cheese provoked different kinds of dreams. Blue cheese resulted in the most bizarre dreams including talking animals, vegetarian crocodiles and warrior kittens. Cheddar yielded dreams of dancing celebrities. Leicester evoked dreams of the past, while Lancashire created dreams about the future. Finally, Cheshire resulted in the best sleep of all: deep and dreamless.
It’s important to note that the study was sponsored by the cheese board, there was no control group, and there were only 200 participants in the study. But, there may actually be some science behind all of this. Cheese can contain different kinds of fungus, which can have psychoactive effects. There is also a chemical called tyramine in cheese, which has been known to act as a neurotransmitter.
Regardless, you might want to think twice before hopping on the “night cheese” bandwagon.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta
MAY