Sleepy After Thanksgiving Dinner
The drowsiness that many people experience after a Thanksgiving feast is not a result of the turkey alone. Instead, it is the carbohydrate rich meal that accompanies the turkey that causes people to feel sleepy. The amino acid tryptophan can be metabolized to produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter that causes a calming effect and regulates sleep. Tryptophan is found in high levels in protein rich foods, such as turkey. Yet the amount of the amino acid present in turkey is not nearly high enough to have immediate effects, and similar concentrations of tryptophan are found in other foods that do not cause any affects. Contrary to popular belief, it is the carbohydrates consumed during a meal that cause drowsiness.
Once the tryptophan is in the bloodstream, it is competing with many other amino acids to take the journey across the blood-brain barrier. When carbohydrates are consumed, the pancreas secretes insulin, which causes the competing amino acids to leave the bloodstream and enter the muscle cells. This increases the relative concentration of tryptophan in the bloodstream and allows more of it to reach the brain and become serotonin. Basically, any carbohydrate rich diet that has some protein in it can cause the familiar sleepy feeling after a meal.
http://chemistry.about.com/od/holidaysseasons/a/tiredturkey.htm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_eating_turkey_on_Thanksgiving_make_you_sleepy
6 comments:
So this could apply to any other carbohydrate rich meals then, another reason why the food groups are very important
if i remember correctly, parmasean cheese has the highest concentration of triptophan per unit weight in food, how's that for a randomly remembered jeopardy fact.
Now I know why I feel sleepy after eating. I love carbohydrates!!!
thats why i crash after eating so much food! ha
That makes total sense. Everyone always falls asleep after a big "carby" meal and now i know why. Good job!
this is easily one of the most common scientific myths. although the idea behind why tryptophan makes people sleepy sounds logical, in reality the effect is negligible. this happens commonly in research which is why most experiments will use multiple controls to avoid this...when you want your experiment to show something and the science behind it makes sense, you're more likely to draw conclusions that may not be 100% accurate.
i'm glad you thought to look this topic up because now you'll super smart at thanksgiving dinner this year!
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