Does Garlic Cause Strange Dreams and Nightmares?

My sister and I ALWAYS have weird dreams after I eat fresh garlic or if it has been used heavily in any cooked dish!

I googled today to see if there is a connection to bad/wierd dreams and garlic and I found these comments. Every time I eat anything with garlic I have a hard time sleeping. It's nice to know other people have the same issue. I guess my caesar salad will have to be a special treat.

I love garlic. It seems like a coincedence, but I seem to have more dreams when I have had a garlic laden dinner. Not bad dreams, just more likely to dream.

I love garlic. It seems like a coincedence, but I seem to have more dreams when I have had a garlic laden dinner. Not bad dreams, just more likely to dream.

I definitely have garlic nightmares. I had them last night (as well as several other times) which is why I ended up at this posting. I don't eat a lot very often, but whenever I do, I have the nightmares. I wonder what causes it and why only some people have this? I love garlic, but it does not like my sleeping peacefully!

I found this by googling after last night's horrific time I had trying to sleep, I woke up every ten minutes or so feeling out of my mind, had a weird mucousy garlic layer in my mouth, and had insane dreams after my overloaded garlic meal at noneother than, Johnny Garlic's restaurant.

I found this by googling after last night's horrific time I had trying to sleep, I woke up every ten minutes or so feeling out of my mind, had a weird mucousy garlic layer in my mouth, and had insane dreams after my overloaded garlic meal at noneother than, Johnny Garlic's restaurant.

Last night my wife made a shrimp scampi in a garlic butter sauce. I rarely have dreams at all but last night, I had a bad one. All I could remember in the dream is that I was angry as hell. And everything seemed so real. It's true, garlic does cause bad dreams and nightmares. This wasn't the first time neither.

Recently I've been having trouble sleeping, usually waking up 2-3 times during the night and having the most strange dreams, and i've also recently discovered my love of garlic.. and have been having 3-4 cloves a day. Now I know what i've been doing wrong!

Found this blog when I type garlic + nightmares into my search bar. I did so because after having garlic I had a very lucid nightmare, but here's the wierd thing . . . The whole time I was having the nightmare, I enjoyed it. Weird isn't it.

I have only started to eat garlic but have started 2 eat lots of it for my lunch and dinner. The last few nights I have had restless sleeps and not nightmares but strange dreams. So I decided to google garlic and dreams. I think garlic is the core of my problem.

I have only started to eat garlic but have started 2 eat lots of it for my lunch and dinner. The last few nights I have had restless sleeps and not nightmares but strange dreams. So I decided to google garlic and dreams. I think garlic is the core of my problem.

garlic definitely causes more dreams for me. not always bad but always insightful. something I look forward to after a good garlic dish.

If you look into Five Element Theory(wiki it) which is the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine you will find that garlic is: Pungent, Heating, Drying and can affect the Liver and Kidneys which are generally more related to dreaming than any of the other organs as defined by TCM. When the Kidney energy deficient, as example with too much garlic drying up its Yin fluids, the negative nature of that particular organ is typified by the emotion of 'fear'. With the Liver, when dried and heated as the Kidneys by too much garlic, the prevalent negative emotion is 'anger'. Put those two together and you get a lack of Yin and too much Yang which can make for a very discomforting status both asleep and awake.

I personally have "nightmare issues" with MSG. I can't help but correlate the grotesque and rapid-fire imagery I experience with that seen in "The Men Behind the Sun". (fyi: A quick perusal of you--tube may show more than you want to see, both in the movie clips and tonally "anti-Japanese" historical gore-umentaries). A new and possibly untestable pet theory of mine is that the development of MSG in 1909 by Ajinomoto Corp. had a part in developing a mindset willing to enact the gore-torture atrocities of the "Rape of Nanking" and at 'Unit 731' (which the mentioned movie is wholly about). A source I found states MSG was first synthesized some decades before this by a German(hint). But this is HIGHLY speculative and I doubt it could ever be tied distinctly together especially when there are "hundreds of scientific studies emphazising its safety in human consumption". Chalk it up to excitotoxicity and move on; make your own food.

A quick tip: if you want to enjoy garlic but have issues try to eat a large portion of cucumber. It is thoroughly Cooling and Moistening enough to diminish such adverse effects from the garlic.

Here's a favorite page of mine with info on the foods in each Element:
http://www.yinyanghouse.com/theory/chinese/five_element_nutrition_theory

Pair that with the **excellent** Five Element Cycle graphic on Wiki--pedia.

well its 3am, i just woke up after having the most horrible frightening nightmare, it seemed so real, i was shocked, and ofcourse relieved when i woke up in my bed, i really thought what was happening was real. I had remembered last time i dreamt like this i had eaten a fair bit of raw garlic, and tonight about an hour before bed i had a clove of raw garlic in a salad.
so i,. like the rest of you it seems typed in garlic nightmares into google, and found this sight...
so strange that garlic can cause nightmares...

i have been eating garlic for the past 3 nights in a row and so far the first two have yeilded in 2 weird remembered dreams a night. I will keep this post up to date as to what happens tonite. and so forth. I enjoy the weird dreams and im writing them down in a log.

i have been eating garlic for the past 3 nights in a row and so far the first two have yeilded in 2 weird remembered dreams a night. I will keep this post up to date as to what happens tonite. and so forth. I enjoy the weird dreams and im writing them down in a log.

I enjoyed reading everyone's feedback. It's almost four am and I can't get to sleep. I ate three cloves of raw garlic in my salad. I consume it on a regular basis due to its many anti-fungal properties, but it looks like I may have to find other alternatives. I don't suffer nightmares from eating it, but without fail I always have a restless night's sleep. I wonder if it releases some chemical into the brain. Maybe that's the main reason Brahmins are traditionally forbidden to eat it.

I know garlic is causing weird (vivid) dreams. One or two cloves is all it takes. The bad part is I love garlic and know it's healthy to eat.

I took garlic for the first time late yesterday evening. I woke up screaming.... it was really awful. I NEVER have nightmares, not even as a child. This was sheer hell I went through, in the form of a nightmare, thought dead people were in my room. I will never take it again.

like most of you I googled 'garlic, dreams, nightmares' because I had a genuine nightmare last night & ate an irregularly large portion of garlic before sleeping.

I rarely have bad dreams anymore, and if I do they are quite brief. Last night, however, absolutely none of my dreams were pleasant. After some lucid moments I sortof realized that I would only be having nightmares and started trying to enjoy their bizarre quality.

The weirdest thing of all though is that vampires were a reoccurring theme. Were it not for that fact, I dont think I would have made the garlic association as soon as I did. It is probably just a funny coincidence, but I am only eating garlic earlier in the day from now on.

Have bad dreams and crap sleep every time I eat garlic for dinner - guaranteed tried and tested - is definately the garlic.

- girlfiend made me a pizza last night and snuck some garlic in it which I did not detect - had lousy night...she must be annoyed with me....

Both my boyfriend and I have strange dreams after eating either garlic or onions, and my Mom has told me she does too after eating onions.

I had a horrible nights sleep and multiple nightmares last night after eating an entire bulb of roasted garlic. My mind seemed to have found all my fears and subconcious thoughts at once and made me play them out. evil garlic! I woke up suddenly and remembered something important I had to do, just in time. So I guess it was kind of a good thing. weirdddddddddd guys, weird I tell ya...

Yesterday I peeled loads of garlic for freezing from the garden. My hands stank afterwards. I had a very frightening nightmare last night and woke up feeling scared and my body was shaking. I googled garlic + nightmare because it was such a strange night and the garlic was all that I had done differently.

I have experienced that everytime I eat lots of garlic (cause i like it) I have vivid dreams (mostly nightmares). also, not only does it give you 'apparent' bad breath but your flatus has a distinctive smell!

I too googled for 'garlic bad dream' and found this site. The other night, I ate an intensely garlicked meal and had the worst bout of insomnia and nightmares that I have experienced in years. I woke up at least five times during the night due to the same recurring dream.

I found this site when searching for info on onions affecting dreams. I made a huge raw onion salad to eat over a few days and for the past days since eating it I have had really bad and vivid nightmares with some "lucid" qualities. Nice to know it may be just the onions. Thanks for posting this!

Please, if you're reading this scroll up to read my two posts dated: April 7, 2008.

You owe it to yourself to learn about Traditional Chinese Medicine and the nature of each and every foods' action in the body. Once you learn you'll wonder what in the world you were ever doing to yourself. Pizza, meat, raw vegetables, and coffee, soda, desserts....this kind of diet is tipping your body's nature towards being prone to nightmares from so small a serving of garlic.

I have been taking Kyolic garlic for a month and it has been helping my Irritable Bowel Syndrome enormously but.....yes the very weird and not so nice dreams are happening. I didn't know why. Now I do. I asked my acupunturist why garlic was working for me, he said that it was firey and it was moving my spleen chi. He said it was good for me but it can be a problem with some people as it brings up a lot of dross,(old stuck issues) this to me now explains the nightmares.

I sleep terribly when I eat lots of garlic before bed - every time!!! My heart races all night and I have really unsettling dreams. I was so surprised when I googled 'garlic' and 'sleep' to find many websites claiming that garlic HELPS sleep - impossible.

Like most of you I have had experience with more brain activity during sleep after I eat garlic. Mostly interesting dreams but occassionaly a thriller is thrown in. I have noticed this for over 20 years. However, I have even more dreaming occur when I eat wild fish...salmon,halibut or ling cod. I notice more sleep talking in my young boys after a fish dinner as well.
I have always looked at these food responses as positive and encourage fish and garlic in our diets.

Over the past few years I have noticed that a very garlic heavy dinner will give me really vivid nightmares. I was convinced it was the garlic and nice to learn that this might be true! The weird thing is that I have loved garlic all my life and lots of it, but only recently have I noticed these nightmares. Someone posted that eating a garlic heavy meal soon before bed causes the nightmares which makes a lot of sense to me. Since I can't give up garlic, guess I'll have to be sure to eat an earlier dinner :).

I wonder what component of garlic causes this, I thought I was insane because everytime I eat garlic I get sleepy as ever and end up falling asleep into horrible night terrors and wake up with a fast heartbeat etc.. Could it be an allergic reaction?
But yes, it is too good. :)

I wonder what component of garlic causes this, I thought I was insane because everytime I eat garlic I get sleepy as ever and end up falling asleep into horrible night terrors and wake up with a fast heartbeat etc.. Could it be an allergic reaction?
But yes, it is too good. :)

I deliberately take 10mg of garlic (two 5mg capsules) each night because I found out by accident that it gives me amazing dreams. One night I forgot to take it, and I didn't dream at all.

I have nightmares and wake up yelling out of a sound sleep. Just ask my wife. This happens about 3-4 times a year and sure enough I have eaten garlic at dinner that night!! I dreamed of a scary haunted hospital last night with a creepy porcelain doll that was alive!! What is really strange is I don't get nightmares everytime I eat Garlic, just some of the time. It could be the amount or type of Garlic. Freaky!!!

I, too, am figuring the raw garlic I had last evening kept me up during the night and also gave me bizarre dreams. I love garlic, but is it worth it?

Man, this sounds awesome. I'm gonna eat like 5 cloves tonight. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, looks like it was never heard again from the man who ate 5 cloves.. haha

I usually never dream and also I have my selection of healthy foods that I pretty much stick to.... then the other night my korean friend gave me some I dont know the name. It was very spicy with a lot of onion... and boy it tasted great but I had one hell of a night with very weired dreams. i think I am just not used to eating onions anymore.. Years ago I was eating more of the stuff with less problems..will stay away from it now...

i awlay hav a really bad sleep when eating garlic that day ... i had to cut the garlic out from putting it on my food :( i also have mad dreams !!!!

xbgFth

xbgFth

I have found that garlic gives me weird dreams. Not always nightmares, but intense dreams. I googled to see if anyone else had this and I suppose other people do!

We cook with garlic all the time, using minced garlic and fresh, and it never impacts on my sleep, but I have now realised ordring garlic pizza at the pizza shop causes massive insomnia and agitation!

I did survive he night, Luder, but my stomach was killing me!

I didn't notice any dreams right away, but I've been eating 2-3 cloves per day + onions or shallots and over time I've noticed a difference, but nothing dramatic. I have had my sleep disturbed a few times, and a few chase dreams that woke me up, but unfortunately nothing too crazy. I will increase my garlic dosage and press on!

I too found this site having woken from a very disturbing dream. (After finding it very hard to get to sleep!) It was so disturbing that I didn't want to go back to sleep for a while incase it came back.

I quite often have this type of dream and always put it down to something I have eaten or drunk.

Having read this site, I am going to make a note each time to try and pinpoint what it is.

It does seem to be connected to chinese food, but our take away does not use MSG, so perhaps garlic. And, I had pizza tonight and the dreams were exceptionally bad.

I did, however, have caffeine and normally have a very low caffeine diet with no tea or coffee or coke. Could it be that? I shall keep a record and post again when I have pin pointed the cause.

I am going to try and sleep again now. Hopefully without the dream!

I found this page while looking for others who have reactions to garlic. I have very deep sleeps and nightmares. Some dreams are very intense. When I wake up I feel like I have a hang over without the headache.I do not drink alcohol. I notice I have this reaction everytime I eat garlic. Time to stop the garlic the nightmares are the only dreams I remember when I wake up.

wow don't be pussies, if you like garlic, eat it. I'm sure if there was a website saying that "garlic gives you good dreams" (which, like this website, is bullshit) then readers would make themselves believe that garlic would indeed give you good dreams too.

I started taking garlic as a holistic approach to lowering my blood pressure (2,000 mg a day), while it significantly lowered my blood pressure, after a month I started having very lucid and horrific nightmares. After 4 nights of waking up sweating and in full anxiety mode, I stopped taking the garlic and stopped having the nightmares.

Yup, garlic keeps me awake at night, especially when I combine it with wine. Too bad, as I love cooking with it.

Havnt had a dream in 20 years

cooked a lovely meal laden in garlic: realy intense dream not nightmares, took a few weeks to eliminate cold flu wine and other things conclusion : defo is the garlic.... oh but so worth it for that taste !!!!

Garlic does cause me to have dreams. Not only nightmares.

If Anything it helps me to remain in a deep REM sleep. As dreams only occur in REM sleep. I usually take garlic a few hours before bed to help me stay asleep.

do you drink coke or anything else with caffeine in it with your garlic? what i figured out a while ago is that i have nightmares when i drink coke right before bed. i think its cause of the caffeine that tries to keep me awake and my body's natural urge to rest that makes me sleep but makes my dreams intense cause of the caffeine, mabie this is it...

When I eat RAW garlic, I can count on a sleepless night!

I ate a lovely salad with a raw garlic dressing, Had the worst nights sleep, I believe the same thing happened last week aswell. And normally I'm a very good sleeper. I guess from reading other articles where it states that garlic is good for sleep only indicates how different we all really are, for some it helps their sleep and some it hinders their sleep, At least we know now. (Didn't have nightmares though)

I too googled garlic+nightmares and found this site. Last night I had a very restless sleep and woke up several times during the night with a very dry mouth. This happens to me quite often when I eat alot of garlic. I eat alot of different foods all the time, but garlic is the only one that does this to me. It has only started happening recently, and I have always been a big garlic lover. However, I'm not going to quit eating garlic because of the intence dreams, I actually kind of like the dreams, and I love garlic too much to give it up.