Why does cheese make you dream more vividly?

[marmaduke]

Why does eating cheese last thing at night cause you to dream more vividly?

[spudqueen]

I was under the impression that in the days when after dinner the men would retire to one room to drink port if they had bad dreams they would blame the cheese they had eaten, when it was really the port.

[soozmac]

It's because cheese takes a while to properly digest. While you are digesting, you are performing a bodily function (so to speak - maybe task would be a better word) and so your brain is active. If you eat something heavy and then fall asleep, your brain remains active during the digestion process, thus giving you very vivid, crazy dreams. When your brain is relaxed, the less wild the dreams.

Eating anything before you sleep is bad for you, as your brain does not shut down properly until all the processes are finished. Therefore, you may be asleep for 8 hours, but your brain will have had much less time than that to "charge up" again for the next day.

[drgonznot]

No the answer soozmac gave was incorrect
Cheese contains tryptophan, an amino acid which reduces stress and induces sleep.
When you're less stressed when you fall asleep, you're more likely to dream.

It annoyed me that someone goes answering questions with clearly no knowledge or research on the matter.