I hate discussing our personal health issues, but this is too important not to mention because someone you know may be affected by this.
But for the last several years, my husband has been suffering almost nightly nightmares. He never goes two nights in a row without one, and many nights has two and sometimes three. I lay awake for hours waiting to calm him down once they begin, because I've learned I can talk him through them quietly to the point where he sometimes doesn't remember them in the morning. Which is good--the nightmares have made him fearful of sleeping, both on his own account and for the disruption it causes me. If anyone's noticed posts from me at 3 a.m., this is likely why I'm up--I've forgotten what good sleep is like.
For the last several years, my husband has also been dealing with a lot of cancer issues, and we've attributed the nightmares to the inevitable fears.
And for the last several years, I've switched us almost completely from coffee to tea, green tea to be exact, for all the good health reasons--less caffeine, antioxidants, yada yada. Five cups a day has been our goal.
Early last week Bob read that green tea has been associated with an increased prevalence of nightmares. When he said that, I realized that I've heard that before--perhaps it was mentioned here. But I'd completely forgotten and of course we had other things to blame it on. To find out if it could be true, he stopped drinking green tea altogether.
Amazingly, the nightmares subsided immediately and by now have stopped completely. The difference is so stark it leaves us in doubt about the cause.
With the increased popularity of green tea, it's entirely likely that someone you know is or could be affected by the tea in this same way, so I thought Bob's experience worth mentioning.
