Cheese and Sleep

My teenage daughter came to me with a strange cheese question. She asked if eating cheese could keep you up at night.

I told her that I’ve never come across any Red Bull cheese, so in my opinion … no.

She quickly rebutted … It turns out it was a loaded question. She had come across some cheese related information on a beauty website she was browsing. The website was Foods That Affect Sleep Habits – Sleep Inducing Foods – Real Beauty. To quote the site:

Toss and Turn: Aged Cheese

If a nap is in your future, steer clear of Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and other hard cheeses (basically, all the yummy smelly ones!). The high levels of the amino acid tyramine are known to keep you up.

I had suspected that cheese would make you tired, not keep you awake.

This prompted some online research regarding cheese and sleep. Now I’m more confused than ever. Some people claim cheese keeps them up and some claim it makes them sleepy. There were opinions, and evidence, supporting both views. Some people on Yahoo Answers were even claiming that blue cheese gave them vivid dreams.

I’m not sure what to believe. My research ended up inconclusive.

That leaves me with only one option … eat more cheese and take more naps until I figure this out.

I’ll make the sacrifice and report back on my findings.