Does Dairy Cause Nightmares? According to One Study, Dairy Causes Sleep Disturbances

The heinously cruel realities of the dairy industry reveal that you should never consume — let alone support — the production of animal-based milk. Nevertheless, the dairy industry's propaganda remains wildly effective, and people drink cow's milk anyway.

If you consume dairy and have noticed that your sleep quality isn't what it should be, scientific experts say there's a reason for that: dairy disturbs sleep, and you should not be consuming dairy if you want a good night's rest.

How, exactly, have some scientists arrived at the conclusion that dairy is bad for sleep? What have dairy consumers said about the assertion that dairy is bad for sleep?

We answer all of these important questions, and more, below, so that you can learn what science says about how bad dairy is for your sleep hygiene practices.

According to CBS News, the survey results of 1,082 college-aged individuals revealed that dairy is one of the key contributors to a terrible night of sleep, including the experience of nightmares.

The research, entitled "More dreams of the rarebit fiend: food sensitivity and dietary correlates of sleep and dreaming" and published in the journal Frontiers, asserts that "we found evidence of food and diet being associated with both dream recall and dream negativity."

"The perceived effect of food on dreams was associated with higher nightmare recall and Nightmare Disorder Index scores, with changes being blamed primarily on desserts/sweets (31%) and dairy (22%)," according to one results section in the publication.

"Findings open new avenues of research on food-dependent dreaming by suggesting dairy-induced gastrointestinal symptoms as one plausible basis for bizarre or disturbing dreams."

Regarding the link between food consumption and the experience of dreaming and recalling the nature of dreams, the researchers found "dairy products [to be] the most frequently identified food affecting dreams (39%−44%)." This assertion is groundbreaking, to say the least, as it reaffirms the notion that a warm glass of milk before bed is more deleterious than dairy milk fans admit.

In a general sense, food intolerances like those with dairy further disturb quality of life and sleep.

Regarding the perception of whether or not specific food categories affected their dreams, 21% of participants blamed Dairy (including "milk, yogurt, cheese, other") as the reason for "their dreams to become more vivid."

"Participants identified some foods they believed to influence their dreams and their sleep; desserts/sweets and dairy were particularly noteworthy in that they were most often identified as affecting both dreaming (29.8% and 20.6%) and the worsening of sleep (22.7% and 15.7%)."

Describing their dreams as both "disturbing" (22%) and "bizarre" (27%) it is clear from the research that dairy plays a significant role in making sleep quality much worse, due in large part to uncomfortably bad nightmares.

Factor in the gastrointestinal issues that arise from drinking milk, which further affect sleep quality, and it's quite clear that we are a species that should not be consuming dairy milk when so many other ethical, healthier options exist.