Why We Feel Sleepy After A Meal ("Food Coma")

This is something almost everyone can relate to: That sleepy feeling after a rich meal.

Recently, this phenomenon has also gotten the new nickname "Food Coma" which is quite fitting.
But this is actually not something the internet has made up, but a real medical condition called "Postprandial Somnolence" - which basically means "Sleepiness after eating."

"After dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile!"

-Proverb

So what exactly causes this "Food Coma" ?

The true reason for this is still being researched, but there are several different theories:

You might have heard this sleepyness occurs because the blood rushes to your guts, and therefore there's not enough blood in your brain left which makes you sleepy.
But that's not 100% true.
It's true that the bloodflow to your intestinal area is increased after a rich meal when your body focuses on digestion, but the additonal blood flow actually comes from all sceletal muscles.
Your brain keeps getting enough blood, because your brain is the coordinator of the whole process and needs a steady blood supply to fulfill that task.
What happens is that your parasympathic nervous system (which is responsible for digestion and your body's relaxation) gets favoured after a large meal by your autonomic nervous system.
Your autonomic nervous system is what controls the involuntary actions of your organs.

You might have also noticed that "Food Coma" happens more after a heavy meal that was rich in carbs, rather than a balanced or protein-based meal. Why?

When you eat a lot of carbs, the levels glucose in your blood increase.
This also means that more of the hormone insulin is being released (Insulin is what transforms sugar into energy!)
But Insulin also allows the amino acid Tryptophan to pass the blood-brain-barrier.
In our brain, tryptophan is then being used to produce Serotonin, which is then in turn used to produce melatonin.

And melatonin is our "sleepy hormone" which controls our sleep cycles and promotes an overall feeling of lethargy.

The Thanksgiving-Turkey-Myth

Fun Fact: It's a common myth around Thanksgiving that the tryptophan contained in turkey would cause sleepiness.
As explained above, tryptophan does lead to a feeling of sleepiness - but chicken and other ingredients actually have a higher tryptophan level than turkey.
Plus, you eat so many different things on Thanksgiving, that the turkey doesn't have that big of an impact anyway.
So this theory has some true points at its core, but is mostly just a holiday myth!

Another theory suggests that our Orexine levels also have something to do with the Food Coma effect.

Orexine is a neurotransmitter that's responsible for wakefulness.
And when the glucose levels on our blood rise, which they do when we eat carbs like explained above, our orexine levels actually decrease - which again leads to a feeling of sleepiness!

Images: Cover, Logo by @rubenalexander, 1, 2, 3, 4 , Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

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