During the end-of-year holidays, meals follow one another. Richer than usual, they can cause drowsiness.
- It’s common to feel tired after Christmas dinner.
- One of the compounds present in turkey may explain this phenomenon, but the nature of the meals, richer and more abundant, is the main cause.
- A few tips can help reduce the fatigue you feel.
Foie gras, turkey, seafood, cheese, Yule log: end-of-year holiday meals often rhyme with abundance. So much so that when leaving the table, it is not uncommon to feel tired. But how can we explain this sudden drowsiness? Julia Zumpano, dietician, provides several explanations on the website of the American Cleveland Clinic.
End of year holidays: does turkey make you want to sleep?
In the United States, end-of-year celebrations begin in November with Thanksgiving. Celebrated every fourth Thursday in November, the festival was originally intended to give thanks for the bountiful summer harvests. Centuries later, the custom continues: Americans still gather around a good meal. One of the signature dishes is the turkey, often stuffed. Across the Atlantic, this poultry is often singled out when people talk about drowsiness after a Thanksgiving meal. For Julia Zumpano, it could be one of the causes: it contains tryptophan, an amino acid associated with sleep. Other foods such as milk, chicken or fish contain it. “You might feel slightly tired after eating turkeybelieves dietitian Zumpano. Mbut tryptophan is not the only reason.” Indeed, you would have to eat a large quantity of turkey for it to cause such effects.
How to explain sleepiness after a Christmas meal?
The specialist believes that three other elements can contribute to this irrepressible desire to sleep. She first cites excess food: we tend to eat too much. “The meal usually contains large amounts of carbohydrates (stuffing, potatoes, pie, desserts, rolls), which may initially raise your blood sugar, she specifies. But then your blood sugar levels crash or decrease, leaving you lethargic.”
This excess food requires additional effort from our body, which can also contribute to fatigue. “Your intestines need more blood to digest the meal, which can lead to less blood flow to the brain, making you feel less alert.”underlines Julia Zumpano. Finally, drinking alcohol also helps make you sleepy.
Christmas meal: how to avoid drowsiness?
To avoid leaving Christmas dinner feeling lethargic, the dietitian gives some advice. You should obviously try to eat smaller quantities of food, limit alcohol and slow down the pace of the meal to take the time to enjoy. But she also recommends doing physical activity after a meal. This can help the digestive system and increase the energy level felt. “It is important to get enough rest, as this will also increase the effects of the meal if you are already tired to begin with. she adds. And it can also lead you to make poor decisions when it comes to food.” If, despite this, you feel the need to sleep after a meal, a short nap can help you get back into shape.
