What about the Thanksgiving feast makes us sleepy?
It is a quintessentially American tradition: gathering with family and friends to feast -- to the point of excess -- and reflect on all for which we can be thankful. And just as much a part of the day as turkey, parades, and football, is the post-meal nap. What is it about the Thanksgiving feast that makes us so sleepy?
The most often-cited culprit is an amino acid, or building block of protein, called tryptophan. This is found in turkey, but it is found in higher concentrations in other foods, including: egg white, cod, soybeans, parmesan and cheddar cheese, pork chops, and (for the adventurous) caribou. One hardly hears of anyone complaining of excessive sleepiness after eating these foods. So what is to blame?
It may be the other things we pile onto our plates and into our goblets. Alcohol certainly can make us sleepy, but it's not the only culprit. It has been demonstrated that meals rich in carbohydrates -- such as potatoes, yams, breads, and countless other Thanksgiving foods -- trigger insulin release. This promotes the uptake by muscle of amino acids other than tryptophan. Lonely and unused trytophan builds up in the blood and is shuttled across the blood-brain barrier where it is converted into a neurotransmitter, or brain chemical, called serotonin. The serotonin is further metabolized into melatonin, which is a hormone with sleep-promoting qualities.
This may partly explain why we get sleepy, but one mustn't overlook that the sheer number of calories the average American will consume is staggering. Depending on the amount and variety of foods consumed, one can easily chow down nearly 3,000 calories! This could supply the energy needs of a young, healthy man for an entire day. For a fun (or terrifying) reality check, calculate the amount of calories you may consume during the feast. It may convince you to cut your portion sizes, or maybe skip the inevitable nap for a nice long walk instead.
What do you think causes you to be sleepy on Thanksgiving? Everyone is invited to participate in the discussion in the forums.
Comments
Well, one thing I know about the Thanksgiving nap is that it almost always sneaks up on someone, like my dad, when they’re watching football and mom, sis and other various female relatives are scraping what little is left on plates, loading the dishwasher (or, for some, washing and drying by hand) and storing the food in the fridge. So I think it’s not just the food, it’s a reclining position, a full stomach and a blaring football game on TV.
Then again, after we’ve thoroughly stuffed ourselves, assuming we’re not one of the kitchen crew and if there’s not something else to distract us and get us actively involved, the inclination of the sated is to sleep. Look at your average cat or dog. They’re probably sleeping by the fire or couch, dreaming of whatever scraps the kids fed them or what got dropped on the floor. My sister used to have a boa constrictor and after she’d fed it, it would sleep for a couple of days, digesting its food and gearing up for the next meal. Animals in the wild do it. But they burn off calories hunting prey and some of them store up for the winter or sleep through it. So sleep after eating isn’t always a bad thing.
But it’s true that people seem to expect to have a dazzling array of cuisine on which to gorge during Thanksgiving. As for the other item in the newsletter this week about sleep deprivation and its relationship to obesity, it’s not surprising to me. Look at the high incidence of sleep apnea in overweight males (and females; it’s just more reported in males). I’m not sure what’s involved in all that; I’m not a medical professional. But another factor might be the fact that we have so much leisure time or, conversely, we don’t have time to do anything but grab that fast food and skip the exercise because there are too many other things to do which leads to more calories consumed, less of them being nutritious and more piling on of the pounds.
I’m not chastising anybody. I’d have to beat myself up first since I have been known to engage in unhealthy behaviors. I’m working on it. (not the unhealthy behaviors, trying to stick to healthier ones)
Laura
You tell them Laura, you took the work right out of my mouth. We eat we sleep we work. Even the animals does as Laura says. So i think it is the in activity because now a 74 i do not have to eat i just need to set down to rest my muscles and i am gone to no no land. Then i always wake up at 2Am with my noses all plugged up and it takes me about an hour to clear them so i can get back to sleep.
Then the wild animals stuff themselves just like we do then take a nap. It is the fact that when we over eat the blood that is needed to digest the food is more in the stomach getting the good stuff out. Then we do not need to move around so much because of no blood to spare to move so we just set down and take a nap. The wild animals may not eat again for two or thee days, we will eat again in about 4 hours then we complain for being over weight.
What makes me sleepy is all the work! On a usual day, I may cook for two people, or maybe three. An hour’s worth of work, tops. Thanksgiving dinner takes several days of preparation — from cleaning the house in preparation for company, to planning, to shopping, to roasting that tryptophan-laced turkey to the veggies and stuffing to the pies. Even when family members bring part of the meal, it takes coordination. THEN doing all those dishes (or at least coordinating others doing them in my kitchen….) No wonder I’m so sleepy by the end of the day. Time to crash.
The build up, the house cleaning, the shopping, the cooking, eating WAY too much, dealing with family, dealing with kids on a sugar high … what about it ISN’T exhausting? It doesn’t matter what you eat on a day like this – you’re bound to be worn out by the end (even if your biggest jobs are eating, watching lots of football and dealing with a bunch of stressed-out women and hyper kids!)
It’s NOT about tryptophan, or amino acids! You’re OVER thinking it!! It’s about people eating like PIGS! Pigs are always ready for a nap after THEY pig out!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!