04/30/08 Cheese Dreams

Sweet dreams are made of cheese, who am I to disagree. Nope, not a new song by the Eurythmics, but a study carried out by the British Cheese Board. Yes, there has in fact been a study done on the effects of eating cheese before bedtime and the types of dreams that different cheeses may induce. Remember the old wives tale that ingesting cheese before you go to bed will cause nightmares? Well, that appears to be poppycock. That's British for ridiculous. In a week long study of 200 volunteers who ate cheese half an hour before sleeping, 72% slept quite well each night and 67% recalled their dreams without a nightmare among them. In fact, it appears that an amino acid in cheese, tryptophan, can actually reduce stress and aid in a good night's sleep. They also concluded in the study that different types of cheeses will invite uniquely oriented dreams; such as eating Cheddar can bring about dreams of celebrities. Yawn, I think it's time for bed. Pass me the Cheddar please and good night Cary Grant, I'll see you in my dreams.