It’s not the turkey’s fault: The myth that the Thanksgiving main dish makes you sleepy
If you find yourself nodding off or feeling like a snooze after eating your Thanksgiving dinner, there is a reason.
Millions of Americans will be congregating this evening to celebrate Thanksgiving tucking into a feast with family and friends. Many will be sitting down to the traditional dinner - roast turkey will all the trimmings.
Around 46 million turkeys will be heading into ovens across the United States today alone - that’s about a fifth of the annual production.
Nodding off after Thanksgiving dinner
But eating a large roast dinner can be hard work and can leave you feeling tired. According to one survey, around 60% of Americans take a post-feast nap each year.
What makes us so lethargic and craving a post-dinner nap? Could it be the turkey? The stuffing? The cranberry sauce? There is one argument that the culprit is the turkey.
Poultry - turkey and chicken, along with red meat, pork, fish, beans, milk, nuts and eggs are all high in tryptophan, an amino acid which our bodies require for growth. Tryptophan is also responsible for the production of melatonin and the neurotransmitter, serotonin which regulates mood, appetite, and sleep.
“Tryptophan is an amino acid found in some foods, which has been linked to drowsiness and can even be taken as a supplement to improve sleep,” Andrew Wong, a primary care provider with Hartford HealthCare in Westport explains.
Carbs and blood sugar
But consuming tryptophan-rich turkey won’t increase your serotonin and melatonin levels enough to make you drowsy. “You would have to eat roughly 20 servings of turkey to ingest as much tryptophan as one supplement would contain,” says Wong.
It’s more likely that eating a lot of carbs is what is making you nod off. Carbs cause blood sugar to increase quickly. That causes your body to release insulin to regulate your blood sugar. It’s that sugar spike that is telling your body to take a catnap.
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