Is this Non sequiter?

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Read this,“I had a bad dream because I ate right before I went to bed.” This is something I've heard many times, that eating right before going to bed causes bad dreams. When I logically look at it the connection is missing, how can one definitively say that eating right before sleeping really caused a bad dream? “The basketball team played poorly because the stock market was down.” Look at this statement, in a sense its no different than the first statement, logically a connection is missing. How did the stock market affect how the basketball team played? (I guess you could say maybe they all had a lot of stocks invested, but you'd need to specify that, otherwise you may as well disregard it.)

I believe what we have here is Non sequiter (which literally means “doesn't follow”) the statements are painted out like one thing led to another, but in reality there is no connection. Back to the first statement though, I've heard it so often that a part of me wonders if maybe its true? Can science prove that eating right before sleeping can trigger something that can cause dreams in general? This is my question for you all.

 

[Beauts]

Erm, well I don't really know how to answer this other than to say that there is a definite connection between your diet and WHAT you eat and how you and your brain functions. I suppose if your brain is trying to both rest and digest at the same time, some disruption to sleep is more likely, hence nightmares. I would guess they actually have a bunch of evidence for this though. Sleep studies are very common.

 

[Johnny Sooshi]

I think you're confusing "cause" with "linked". There are studies that show eating before bed has been associated to nightmares. While it's not certain it's the cause (let's face it, neurological siences are very iffy because of the complexity of the brain), scientists have done tests that give enough evidence to theorize that it's the cause.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...ez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
http://web.archive.org/web/20070831193305/http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/nightmare.html
http://www.divinecaroline.com/self/dreams/six-reasons-we-have-bad-dreams
http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/15/16965956-can-spicy-food-really-give-you-nightmares?

 

[T. Strudel]

Erm, well I don't really know how to answer this other than to say that there is a definite connection between your diet and WHAT you eat and how you and your brain functions. I suppose if your brain is trying to both rest and digest at the same time, some disruption to sleep is more likely, hence nightmares. I would guess they actually have a bunch of evidence for this though. Sleep studies are very common.

The brain doesn't digest!


You're thinking of the small appendix.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

I dunno there's some wacky myth that if you eat too much before bed you'll have nightmares. Nightmares are a culmination of various things, your fears, the stimulus you had during the day, how you view yourself and others around you etc.

 

[Beauts]

The brain doesn't digest!


You're thinking of the small appendix.

Yes because the brain isn't in control of all your organs including the small appendix and also I truly believed when you swallow the food travels upwards into your skull.

 

[Seth]

It's not the same thing, but I know when I have the flu, I often have nightmares. Especially the night before. I don't think it's out of the question that what you eat, especially right before bed, can affect your dreams. Not saying it's truth but it isn't that far out there.

 

[Mercedes]

Yes because the brain isn't in control of all your organs including the small appendix and also I truly believed when you swallow the food travels upwards into your skull.

... you telling me it doesn't?

 

[Beauts]

... you telling me it doesn't?

No! I know, mind = blown right! Who would have thought, not only is there such thing as gravity, but that I know about it??? It's almost as if I never went to school and needed some patronising little nudge in the right direction! OMG! The British education system has failed us Mercedes.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

So I tested it last night, I ate right before sleeping. I fell asleep and didn't dream at all, so I personally think its a non sequiter statement.

 

[Beauts]

So I tested it last night, I ate right before sleeping. I fell asleep and didn't dream at all, so I personally think its a non sequiter statement.

I think you'd need to conduct more experimentation than just basing it on one night of sleep from one person's experience to draw any conclusion about this.

 

[Johnny Sooshi]

So I tested it last night, I ate right before sleeping. I fell asleep and didn't dream at all, so I personally think its a non sequiter statement.

From what I've read, the basis seems to be that fatty or spicy foods can cause arythmia in sleep cycles, something that does make sense. The way it's theorized is that these foods cause the metabolism to work harder than normal which can take away from sleep.
And it's not a scientific test to simply conclude that because you didn't experience the postulated evidence it's a false claim.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

From what I've read, the basis seems to be that fatty or spicy foods can cause arythmia in sleep cycles, something that does make sense. The way it's theorized is that these foods cause the metabolism to work harder than normal which can take away from sleep.
And it's not a scientific test to simply conclude that because you didn't experience the postulated evidence it's a false claim.

Yeah maybe I did sort of rush into it, but I did continue testing. The first night I ate chicken noodle soup, The second night I ate a piece of meatloaf leftover from our dinner earlier in the day. Last night I ate speghetti. The only problem I had was last night, I had trouble sleeping, probably because of the tomato sauce in the speghetti. Tonight I'll try eating spicy chili, or something, and continue for another few days until I have a weeks worth of experiments. What food should I eat after tonight?

 

[Johnny Sooshi]

Yeah maybe I did sort of rush into it, but I did continue testing. The first night I ate chicken noodle soup, The second night I ate a piece of meatloaf leftover from our dinner earlier in the day. Last night I ate speghetti. The only problem I had was last night, I had trouble sleeping, probably because of the tomato sauce in the speghetti. Tonight I'll try eating spicy chili, or something, and continue for another few days until I have a weeks worth of experiments. What food should I eat after tonight?

I'm not sure as to what food you should eat. But I will say while continuing the testing can help possible theories, you still can't completely conclude for everyone which is why this isn't necessarily a non sequitur. Your conclusions only apply to you.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I'm not sure as to what food you should eat. But I will say while continuing the testing can help possible theories, you still can't completely conclude for everyone which is why this isn't necessarily a non sequitur. Your conclusions only apply to you.

True. Actually I'm going to stop testing, obviously I'm not used to eating late at night because I broke out. Lol, got a big old zit right on my cheek. So I'm going to stop. The last night I did a test was last Monday night, I ate spicy chili.I did sleep, but had no dreams. I did wake up a lot because I believe I experianced heart burn for the first time in my life that night.