# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion > Nightmares and Recurring Dreams >  >  The chocolate effect.

## KarmaRhyme

I've always heard that chocolate would give me nightmares if I ate some before I went to bed, but I dunno, it just sounded weird to me, so I never believed it was true. Strangely enough though, my friend brought over a bunch of classic candies, many of them being chocolate, but of course, that was about an hour before I went to bed. That night, I had a horrific dream that had to do with a lot of hooks in severed heads, though those severed heads had emotions and were lively. Each one looked scared, and the person who did this was a rabbit-looking man. I don't remember much of it, but I experimented with this a few more times. It did nothing one time, then the next two times, I have not remembered all of the dreams, but they were certainly unpleasant. Can someone confirm this or something?

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## Dark_Merlin

> Can someone confirm this or something?



Totally 100% false and incorrect!  ::D: 

Personally I used to eat chocolate before I went to bed all the time because I'd heard it helped with recall - and I haven't had a nightmare in ages!  :smiley:  The fact that you had a nightmare is either coincidence or was caused by the fact that you were expecting it after the chocolate, nothing more  :smiley:

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## ShadowOfSelf

Agree with dark merlin

Though has it helped your recall? first i've heard of that. Could give me a reason to munch out before bed  ::D:  do choclate milkshakes count?!

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## Taffy

> Totally 100% false and incorrect! 
> 
> Personally I used to eat chocolate before I went to bed all the time because I'd heard it helped with recall - and I haven't had a nightmare in ages!  The fact that you had a nightmare is either coincidence or *was caused by the fact that you were expecting it after the chocolate*, nothing more



Yeah, a placebo effect. However, wouldn't your recall improvements also be because of the placebo? Is there any scientific evidence of it increasing recall?

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## ShadowOfSelf

> Yeah, a placebo effect. However, wouldn't your recall improvements also be because of the placebo? Is there any scientific evidence of it increasing recall?



I do recall something about the ingredients in chocolate itself, something that releases dopamine? dopamine makes for more vivid dreams or something. Maybe a boost in dopamine could help.. im not too sure though.

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## Taffy

> I do recall something about the ingredients in chocolate itself, something that releases dopamine? dopamine makes for more vivid dreams or something. Maybe a boost in dopamine could help.. im not too sure though.



That makes sense.

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## ShadowOfSelf

> That makes sense.



Though I also read something about masturbating letting out dopamine (the pleasure chemical in your brain I think it was) and someone said that he stopped doing it for a while, which in his theory left him with more dopamine and did in fact lead to more vivid and potentially lucid dreams. (placebo possibly)

So, does chocolate give you dopamine, and masturbating uses it up, or do they both use it up, or both give you dopamine? orrrr does dopamine not even affect your dreams?

Would like to find out some more about this!

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## Dark_Merlin

Really there's so many other factors that affect your recall that the chocolate didn't make that much of a difference, to me anyway. Personally the best thing to help with recall for me has been pomegranate juice, and drinking a little before bed for me (possibly placebo too but who knows) has been able to give me jumps in recall when I need it  :smiley:

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## KarmaRhyme

Hmm... That actually would make sense. The first time around, before I expected anything to happen,  the nightmare I had I was able to remember almost perfectly, save for a few details here and there. Good to know that this is confirmed... and that I feel like an idiot for falling for the placebo effect.

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## Taffy

> Hmm... That actually would make sense. The first time around, before I expected anything to happen,  the nightmare I had I was able to remember almost perfectly, save for a few details here and there. Good to know that this is confirmed... and that I feel like an idiot for falling for the placebo effect.



Well that's what placebos are for, tricking you into thinking they work. Don't beat yourself up about it.  :wink2:

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