Does Milk Give You Nightmares & How Do I Stop Recurring Nightmares?

When you wake up horrified from a scary nightmare, you probably imagine you’re the only individual who has them. However, nightmares tend to occur right from your childhood. To be more precise, medical studies estimate that nightmare starts from preschool years approximately around 3 years of age.

One of the commonest causes of getting recurrent nightmare is post-traumatic stress. Although nightmares are normal, nightmare disorder is perhaps a serious condition.

Medical studies prove that food has a major impact on dreams. Many pieces of evidence show nutrients in the food affects many things such as the mood and the alertness during the day. Perhaps, it tends to affect the quality of the sleep as well. This is due to poor metabolism and digestive intolerance. For example, when you have your dinner very late in the night, it obviously affects the system metabolism and eventually results in sleep disturbances.

In fact, for centuries, there is a belief that cheese product has an important role in nightmares. However, it still remains as perception and there are no proven theories to support this perception. But still, research is going on to relate the most cited cheese with nightmares.

Researchers suggest that cheese can influence the kids and adults dream to a certain extent. Several studies have investigated the key ingredient melatonin found in milk that regulated the sleep-wake cycle. There was a study conducted among a few patients and they consumed 6gm of melatonin at night for two weeks. These individuals encountered bad nightmares that caused a lot of sleep disturbances.

Actually, there is some evidence that fermented milk (curd) have effects on sleep health. Similarly, milk products such as cheddar, mozzarella or Swiss Cheese are some of the food that causes disturbing dreams.^{1. 2}

Recurring nightmares can not only be disturbing, but they can be dreadful. A lot of people have ongoing sleep disturbances, perhaps five to six percent of the adult population have at least one recurring nightmare in their lifetime.

When you consult a psychologist or a sleep specialist for recurring nightmare, the first thing they do is to conduct a general medical workshop to identify the underlying mental health problems such as post-trauma, depression and few others. There are some powerful techniques with which you can stop recurring nightmares from happening.

Imagery Rehearsal Treatment- This therapy is a cognitive-behavioral treatment for lowering the frequency and severity of chronic nightmares among patients facing posttraumatic stress. These patients have a higher incidence of sleep-related breathing order. In this treatment, you will be helped to reimagine your bizarre dreams with less frightening outcomes

Rewrite The Story Of Your Night With An Ending Of Your Choice- Practise imagining your frightening nightmare with a happy ending. This will help you change or lessen the intervals of recurring nightmares.

Improve The Quality Of Your Life- One of the ways you can reduce recurring nightmares is to create healthy sleep habits by improving your bedtime routine. Improving your sleep routine eventually may help with your nightmares. Follow a regular sleep pattern and ensure that you get adequate sleep.

Meditation And Workouts- Bad dreams and nightmares don’t happen randomly. Nightmares are apparently caused due to your level of stress. Therefore, when you bring your anxiety and stress levels down, this can, in turn, help you minimize recurring nightmare.

Meditation can also relieve you of the stress you’re feeling, especially before going to bed. When you meditate or do physical exercises, it calms down your muscles and tension and makes you feel relaxed giving you a peaceful sleep.^{3. 4}

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Also Read:

• What Causes Bad Dreams or Nightmares & How to Get Rid of it?
• Are Nightmares Dangerous & How Do You Know If You Have A Nightmare Disorder?
• Can Nightmares Kill You & Is It A Mental Disorder?
• How Many People Have Nightmare Disorders & Is It Hereditary?
• What Foods Cause Nightmares & What Meds Cause Nightmares?
• Coping Methods For Nightmare Disorder