Nearly half of Brits believe cheese causes nightmares – with cheddar as top culprit
But in the lead-up to Christmas, 40 percent plan to eat cheese daily, with one in three (32 percent) tucking into the food more than usual at this time of year.
Mozzarella, brie, goats’ cheese, and Cheshire cheese, also featured among the top 20 cheeses people believe are most likely to give them nightmares.
The research was commissioned by Emma Sleep, which has teamed up with cheesegeek to launch a competition to find the biggest cheese-lovers to participate in an experiment, to reveal if it really does give you nightmares.
To see if the old wives’ tale is true, participants will receive a hamper of British festive cheeses to eat for 15 days, in order to test the effects on their sleep and dreams.
Featured cheeses for the experiment include some of the most popularly consumed from the research – including cheddar, blue, and brie.
Theresa Schnorbach, sleep scientist at Emma Sleep said: “When it comes to cheese, we know there are elements at work that can have both a positive and negative impact on our sleep – from increasing your REM sleep density, to inducing hormone production which aids in regulating your body clock.
“Through this experiment, we’ll explore the extent of these elements, and put this old wives’ tale to the test.”
The study found that, whether a nightmare or not, over half of adults (56 percent) think cheese has some effect on the quality of sleep they are able to achieve – with a third believing it causes vivid dreams.
And 27 percent think a cheese-heavy night can make it more difficult to fall asleep once your head hits the pillow.
However, an intrepid 21 percent would feel inclined to eat more cheese if it was proven to cause more vivid dreaming.
Of those who have avoided eating cheese before bed in the past, 56 percent will shelve the stilton and say bye to the brie before 8pm – just in case.
It also emerged Christmas Day and Boxing Day are the cheesiest days of the season, with 31 percent expecting to spend both days tucking into…
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