Food coma, also known as Postprandial somnolence, happens when you take a heavy lunch or meal, hit the couch or bed room and spend the rest of your time in sitting, not moving due to laziness or sleepiness.
Food Coma is very common and you probably have already been there. If you skip breakfast and take lunch, this will cause your body to pump more blood to your gut to digest the food and decrease the blood flow to your brain, making you feel sleepy.
Symptoms of Food Coma
- Drowsiness or sleepiness
- Lack of Energy
- Lack of focus and Concentration
Why you feel Sleepy After heavy Meal?
In order for your stomach to process food, your body needs more blood when you eat a lot. This may result in less blood flowing to your brain, which could leave you feeling drowsy and exhausted.
A high-carb diet also causes your body to release insulin. Insulin controls your blood sugar, but too much of it can result in low blood sugar, which makes you feel exhausted and lethargic.
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that can induce a food coma by stimulating the production of serotonin, a hormone associated with sleep. This hormone causes drowsiness and fatigue in your body.
Tryptophan-rich foods include the following:
Milk, canned tuna, Turkey and chicken Oats, cheese, nuts and seeds, bread, chocolate, and fruits.
Salman poultry eggs spinach seeds milk Soya products cheese
Carbohydrate helps the body produce tryptophan.
Some of the food items that are rich in carbohydrates include pasta ,rice ,white bread ,cakes ,cookies, doughnuts , muffins, milk, sugar and candy.
Protein and carbohydrates together make you feel tired and sleepy so before you want to take heavy meals and be awake, you may want to think about the food items that you are eating.
While food coma is not bad, if you are tired of this situation and you are having it every day and you want to get rid of it, then you should consult your doctor. Some of the suggestions we can give you are that you should take less of the meal because larger quantities of meal take a larger effort to digest and make you more drowsy.
Is food coma bad?
Feeling drowsy after eating is usually not a serious problem, but if it persists, there may be a medical problem. See a doctor if you experience food comas frequently. Make sure you get enough sleep and spread out your meals throughout the day rather than eating one large meal to prevent food comas.