Eating a spicy meal before bed can be a real nightmare.

A study looked at how what you eat- and when- affects your dreams. The majority of dreaming happens during the rapid eye movement, or REM, stage of the sleep cycle, which occurs about every 90 minutes. Since the brain is active during REM sleep, this is when nightmares happen. In general, eating anything too close to bedtime can cause more dreaming because it heightens your metabolism, leading to increased brain activity. Experts say it’s possible certain heavy or spicy foods could trigger particularly strange or scary dreams, since digesting them can interfere with the sleep cycle. photo from public-domain-image.com