Published as a separate and in The Journal of The Mind and Body, 2000, 74, 57-64

EFFECTS OF EATING BEFORE GOING TO BED ON DREAMS AND BODY^{1 2}

Department of Psychology and Weight Gain

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Effects of consuming food before going to bed on dreams and the body. Ten people were randomly picked Ss, five males and five females, all over 21 and under 35. The Ss were all put on the same daily diet for 8 weeks, this included all the basic food groups. At night, 1/2 an hour before going to bed, the Ss were given foods such as ice cream, sandwiches, and candy bars.
At the end of 8 weeks all subjects had gained more then 6 pounds, and seven of the subjects had experienced nightmares while sleeping.

A. INTRODUCTION

Many people experience weight gain for a number of reasons. Also, many people experience nightmares ever so often. But, it has never been thought of that these two things might be connected to the same cause in some cases. Eating before going to bed can be a cause for both. Ash ton(1) found that going to bed on a full stomach can sometimes trigger brain waves which causes nightmares. In a similar study, Bethal (2) found that foods, especially unhealthy foods, can trigger even more of these brain waves which cause nightmares. except when more brain waves are triggered a person will experience more fearful nightmares. Carter(3) found that eating to the fullest,then completely relaxing the body causes fat to stick to cells which then will develop into fat.
These studies suggest that by eating food, especially junk food, before going to bed, that a person will gain weight and some may experience nightmares. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of consuming before going to bed on one’s weight gain and dream process.

B. METHOD
1. SUBJECTS

Ss were ten randomly picked people. Five males, and five females all over twenty-one and under thirty-five.

2.MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

a. Kentucky Pound Scale. The Kentucky Pound Scale
was developed by Donovan(4) and has a reliability of .98. Ss were put on this scale to be weighed in pounds before and after the experiment. The scale was made this year and is electronic.
b. The Dream Machine.The Dream Machine measures whether a not a person’s dream is actually a nightmare at that moment. It was developed by Ecknerson(5). It is on a scale from 1 to 10. One being the most fearful dream. The Ss were put in bed with a head set which is connected to the dream machine. The head set picks up the waves in your brain.

3. PROCEDURE

The Ss were randomly picked all along the west coast. The ones chosen were placed in a 24 bedroom mansion in Northern California. The Ss were divided by gender, and then the males were placed in the West Wing and the females in the East Wing. They lived there for eight weeks with all expenses paid. For two days they had orientation where they learned all about the purpose of the experiment and the process in full depth. On exactly April 1st 2000, they were placed on the same diets. At night before bed they ate like junk food and sandwhiches until they were full completely. When in bed they had to sleep with the head set on and the Dream Machine on. Each morning the results from the Dream Machine were printed out and posted on a bulletin board in chart format. The Ss were also weighed at the end of each week. These results were also posted.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Following the eight week program, the Ss stopped eating right before bed. They said they loss significant weight, and the amount of nightmares in the four subjects decreased.Thus it may be concluded that eating before going to bed does effect a person’s dreams and weight. Further studies might explore killman’s(6) Book Of Dreams, and Hudson’s(7) Book Of Junk Food.

REFERENCES

1. ASHTON, H.E. Dreams And You, New York: Callahan Books, 1998
2. BETHAL, P.Q. Brain Waves, New York: Hudson Books, 1999
3. CARTER, M.L. Weight Gain, New York: Coffin Books, 1999
4. DONOVAN, K.J. Kentucky Pound Scale, New York: 1999
5. ECKNERSON, L.T. The Dream Machine, New York: 1998
6. KILLMAN, R.J. Book Of Dreams, New York: Bantam Books, 1995
7. HUDSON, N.A. Book Of Junk Food, New York: Hudson Books, 1997

Department Of Mind and Body
Brighton Town University
1234680 SFLE
San Diego, California 34692

¹ Received in the Editorial Office on March 3, 2000 and published immediately at Provincetown Massachusetts.

² This experiment was supported in part by a Faculty Research Fellowship granted to Danielle R. McGonigle, and Ashley M. Anderson by Brighton Town University

³ Requests for reprints should be sent to the first author at the address shown at the end of this article.