It's one of the most persistent food myths in Britain: eat cheese before bed and you'll be plagued by nightmares. Dickens gave Scrooge a "crumb of cheese" to blame for the ghost of Jacob Marley. The early 1900s comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend built its entire premise around cheese-induced night terrors. And most of us have heard the warning from a parent or partner at some point.
So does cheese actually give you nightmares? The honest answer, based on the latest research, is: probably not directly, but there may be a real reason some people associate cheese with bad dreams. A 2025 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that the link between dairy and disturbing dreams is most likely explained by lactose intolerance and the digestive discomfort it causes during sleep, rather than anything uniquely "nightmarish" about cheese itself.
In other words, if cheese gives you stomach trouble, it might give you bad dreams too. But for most people, a sensible portion of cheese in the evening is nothing to lose sleep over.
Where Does the Myth Come From?
The belief that cheese causes nightmares has deep roots in British and American culture. Charles Dickens popularised it in A Christmas Carol (1843), when Scrooge dismissed his terrifying vision of Marley's ghost as the result of "an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese." By the early 1900s, cartoonist Winsor McCay had created Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, a hugely popular comic strip in which characters suffered bizarre and disturbing dreams after eating Welsh rarebit, a dish of melted spiced cheese on toast.
Tthese cultural references created a self-reinforcing belief. If you expect cheese to give you nightmares, you're more likely to notice and remember a bad dream that happens to follow a cheesy supper.
The myth also persists because there is a grain of truth buried within it. Eating heavy, rich foods (cheese included) close to bedtime really can disrupt your sleep. And disrupted sleep really does make you more likely to remember your dreams, including the unpleasant ones. The question is whether cheese itself is the culprit, or whether the problem is simply eating too much too late.
What the Science Actually Says
The 2025 Frontiers in Psychology Study
The most significant piece of research on this topic was published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2025 by Dr Tore Nielsen of the Université de Montréal and colleagues. The researchers surveyed 1,082 university students about their sleep quality, dream experiences, dietary habits, and food intolerances.
About a third of respondents reported regular nightmares. Among the 5.5% who believed specific foods affected their dreams, dairy came in second (22%) after sweets (31%) as a perceived cause of disturbing or bizarre dreams. Spicy foods (13%) and meat (16%) were also mentioned.
The study found an association between lactose intolerance and nightmare severity. The researchers proposed that gastrointestinal symptoms like bloating, cramping, and gas caused by dairy consumption during sleep were disrupting rest and influencing dream content. "Nightmares are worse for lactose intolerant people who suffer severe gastrointestinal symptoms and whose sleep is disrupted," Nielsen concluded. "These new findings imply that changing eating habits for people with some food sensitivities could alleviate nightmares."
The study doesn't say cheese causes nightmares in everyone. It says that if you're lactose intolerant, dairy (including cheese) may trigger digestive discomfort that disrupts sleep and worsens dreams.
The 2005 British Cheese Board Study
The other widely cited piece of research is the 2005 British Cheese Board study, which took the opposite approach. They gave 200 volunteers 20g of cheese 30 minutes before bed for a week and asked them to record their dreams.
The results? No nightmares were reported. Instead, two-thirds of participants recalled their dreams, and the Cheese Board claimed that different cheeses produced different types of dreams. Blue Stilton apparently caused bizarre, surreal dreams (talking animals, warrior kittens), while cheddar prompted dreams about celebrities, and Red Leicester triggered nostalgic childhood memories.
It's an entertaining study, but it has limitations. As BBC Science Focus and Nature Scitable have both noted, the study had no control group (participants who ate no cheese), was funded by the cheese industry, and has never been published in a peer-reviewed journal. It's best treated as a fun curiosity rather than rigorous science.
Why Might Cheese Affect Your Dreams?
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain why cheese, or food in general, might influence dreaming. Here's what the evidence supports.
Late-Night Eating and Sleep Quality
The simplest explanation has nothing to do with cheese specifically. Eating any heavy meal close to bedtime forces your digestive system to work when it should be winding down. A study published in Nutrients found that eating within three hours of bedtime was associated with a 40% increase in the odds of waking during the night. The Cleveland Clinic recommends stopping eating at least three hours before bed for this reason.
When you wake more frequently during the night, you're more likely to wake during REM sleep, the stage where the most vivid dreaming occurs. As The Conversation explains, we may actually have vivid dreams or nightmares every night but what changes is whether we wake up during them and remember them. Poor sleep quality means more awakenings, which means more dream recall, including the bad ones.
Cheese is a particularly rich, high-fat food. A large serving before bed is harder to digest than a lighter snack, which makes sleep disruption more likely. But the same would be true of a heavy portion of steak, fried food, or a rich dessert.
Lactose Intolerance and Digestive Disruption
This is the mechanism with the strongest evidence behind it. The 2025 Nielsen study found that lactose-intolerant participants experienced significantly worse nightmares and poorer sleep quality. The proposed explanation is straightforward: undigested lactose causes gas, bloating, and cramping, and this physical discomfort disrupts sleep and feeds into dream content.
It's worth noting that many people have some degree of lactose intolerance without knowing it. It exists on a spectrum, and mild cases can go undiagnosed for years. If you consistently notice poor sleep or vivid dreams after eating cheese, it may be worth considering whether dairy digestion is a factor.
Hard, aged cheeses like cheddar and Parmesan are naturally very low in lactose because the ageing process breaks down most of the milk sugar. Softer, younger cheeses like Brie, mozzarella, and cottage cheese retain more lactose. This may explain why some cheeses seem to cause more sleep disruption than others for sensitive individuals.
Tyramine, Tryptophan, and Brain Chemistry
A more speculative theory involves tyramine, a naturally occurring compound found in aged cheeses. Tyramine triggers the release of noradrenaline (norepinephrine) in a brain region involved in the sleep-wake cycle. In theory, this could increase brain activity during REM sleep and produce more vivid or intense dreams.
Cheese also contains tryptophan, an amino acid that the body uses to produce serotonin and melatonin, both of which regulate sleep. This could, theoretically, influence dream intensity, though the amounts in a typical serving of cheese are small.
However, as BBC Science Focus points out, many other foods contain tyramine and tryptophan (including chocolate, cured meats, and soy products) without carrying the same reputation for causing nightmares. The evidence for this mechanism remains inconclusive.
Does the Type of Cheese Matter?
Given what the research tells us, the type of cheese you eat before bed could make a difference, though not in the way popular culture suggests.
Aged hard cheeses (cheddar, Parmesan, Red Leicester): Higher in tyramine but very low in lactose. Less likely to cause digestive disruption for lactose-sensitive people. If the nightmare link is primarily driven by digestive discomfort, these are the safer options.
Soft and fresh cheeses (Brie, cottage cheese, mozzarella): Lower in tyramine but higher in lactose. More likely to trigger gastrointestinal symptoms in sensitive individuals. These may be more problematic for those who notice a connection between dairy and poor sleep.
Blue cheeses (Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola): High in both tyramine and various fermentation compounds. The British Cheese Board study found Stilton produced the most bizarre dreams, and Stilton is often singled out in folklore. Whether this is due to its unique chemistry or simply its strong reputation is unclear.
If you enjoy cheese in the evening, our cheese wedges come in sensible vacuum-wrapped portions, enough for several servings across the week. A 25–30g portion of a mature, naturally low-lactose cheddar a couple of hours before bed is unlikely to disturb anyone's sleep. Save the Stilton experiment for a night when you're feeling adventurous.
How to Enjoy Cheese Before Bed Without Losing Sleep
You don't need to banish cheese from your evenings. Based on the research, here are some practical tips:
Watch the timing. Give your body at least two to three hours between eating and sleeping. This applies to all food, not just cheese.
Keep portions small. A 30g portion of cheese (about the size of a small matchbox) is a perfectly reasonable evening snack. The problem arises when a casual nibble turns into half a block.
Choose aged cheeses if dairy bothers you. Mature cheddar, Parmesan, and other long-aged varieties are naturally very low in lactose. If you suspect you're mildly lactose intolerant, these are far less likely to cause digestive disruption than soft cheeses.
Pair cheese with something light. A few oatcakes, some apple slices, or a handful of grapes alongside your cheese makes for a balanced snack that's easier to digest than cheese alone.
Pay attention to your body. If you consistently notice poor sleep or vivid dreams after eating cheese, it's worth tracking whether the pattern holds for other dairy products too. It could point to an underlying sensitivity rather than anything specific to cheese.