This past month I joined some friends who were trying out a 2-week cleanse. And despite sleeping like a rock and getting our digestion back on track, all three of us experienced a very strange symptom: We had the craziest, most vivid dreams almost every night during the cleanse. According to Dr. Lipman, dreams are a pretty common side effect of cleanses, and while he can’t explain exactly why it happens, he has a few theories. “Although we get this a lot, we aren’t exactly sure why this happens. We believe it could be a result of a number of things, including a change in diet, the detoxing process that the body is going through, a change in the gut flora, or even because we are removing stimulants that often disrupt sleep patterns,” he told us. Our experts agree: There isn’t much you can do to prevent these dreams from happening, but they’re also nothing to worry about. And so, at least for now, they remain one of those mysterious things that happen to you when your body is adjusting to a different lifestyle. For me and my detox pals, they weren’t so bad that it prevented us from continuing with the program—they were more strange than scary—but it’s something to keep in mind if you have plans to do a cleanse anytime soon.
