Why does one always want to sleep after eating? If you feel sleepy after eating, remember - what did you eat? ways to deal with daytime sleepiness

The working day is in full swing, lunch break has passed. But instead of starting the righteous work with renewed vigor, we literally fall asleep on the go. What is the reason? Why do you want to sleep after eating?

Why do you want to sleep after eating?

The first reason for daytime sleepiness is nervous worksystems.

• Having received its portion of food, the body begins to closely engage in its digestion, throwing all its forces into this process, like on an embrasure.
• So that a person does not cancel this important procedure by his willful decision, the body turns off the sympathetic component of the peripheral nervous system (responsible for activating the reaction, muscles) and turns on the other part - the parasympathetic.
• It is in charge of the functions of muscle relaxation, slowing the heartbeat.
• A person calms down, drowsiness creeps in, food is calmly digested, saturating the body with useful substances.

The second reason for sleepiness after eating is working outhormones.

Why do you want to sleep after eating?

• The human body in the wakefulness mode produces the hormone of vigor - orexin.
• It is he who allows a person to be in good shape, and the body to perform its functions.
• During meals, the satiety hormone leptin is produced.
• It is directly related to chemical reactionsoccurring during the production of glucose in the body.
• Leptin inhibits orexin production. As a result, a person is drawn to sleep after eating.

What to do to avoid falling asleep after eating?

Do not provoke spikes in blood sugar. Glucose is the result of the breakdown of carbohydrates.

The faster they break down, the greater the single injection of glucose into the blood.

• the use of slow carbohydrates prolongs and distributes in time the supply of the body with glucose, that is, energy. And after eating fast carbohydrates, the amount of sugar in the blood decreases very quickly and after eating you want to sleep;
• do not overeat.

The body has to spend more time digesting excess food.

Why do you want to sleep after eating? “Sleep, you can eat! Eat - and you can sleep! "

Such a simple philosophy of life, if you remember, was preached by Mother Frog from the famous cartoon about Thumbelina.

But in her words, at least in the second part of them, a fair amount of truth is hidden: after a hearty dinner, most people are irresistibly drawn to sleep. Why is that?

Food is kind of like a source vital energy and suddenly such a paradoxical effect on the body - no working capacity, apathy, and among the thoughts there is only one, where to lie down?

Scientists believe they have already figured out why food is so relaxing for a person and how to avoid lethargy at work in the afternoon. Here's what they have to say about it.

1. Sympathy and parasympathetic

The desire to plunge into a pleasant nap after a meal is associated with the peculiarities of the functioning of the human nervous system, or rather its vegetative part.

Vegetative nervous system very delicate and very cunning matter - no one sees it, cannot touch it, but at the same time it invisibly controls absolutely all processes in the body (autonomic disorders are the most common in the psycho-neurological practice of doctors).

She is also responsible for the state of inhibition and activity in the body.

The autonomic system consists of two components: the sympathetic, which exacerbates reactions, enhances reflexes, tones the muscles, and the parasympathetic, which acts in the opposite direction - relaxes, soothes, reduces the intensity and number of heart contractions.

So, it has been proven that after eating, the predominant effect of the parasympathetic component of human vegetation is observed, that is, the whole body relaxes.

Under the influence of parasympathetic blood supply is redistributed - the main part rushes to the digestive tract (food needs to be digested, and this is a serious work), while less blood enters the muscles and the brain.

That is, the body itself sets priorities, it cannot simultaneously spend energy on digesting food and on intensive work, it chooses one thing.

At the same time, the brain, in a desire to protect its owner from stress (the constant companion of the influence of the sympathetic department), which interferes with the assimilation of food, gives him a pleasant bliss and a desire to take a nap.

It has been noticed that the denser the food, the stronger the desire to fall asleep.

2. Chronic lack of sleep

This problem is faced by most of the inhabitants of large cities, who are forced to live in a very intensive pace.

With this regime, the body tries to use for its own benefit every opportunity to relax - to sleep, and after eating the most favorable time.

3. Lack of water in the body

Yes, even insufficient fluid intake can provoke bouts of afternoon sleepiness.

If you drink little water, you are not supplying the body with one of the most important nutrients needed to ensure the necessary energy balance, the normal course of metabolic processes.

The volume of water you drink directly affects the volume of blood in the circulatory system, blood pressure, at work of the heart.

With its lack of blood pressure drops, there is lethargy, constant fatigue, "fog" in the head, drowsiness.

4. "Sweet Dream"

A plentiful meal provokes a sharp rise in blood sugar levels, which is considered one of the main reasons for the desire to go out after lunch or dinner.

Sugar indicators are the most important marker of human health. It appears as a result of the processing of carbohydrates - substances responsible for the amount of energy released after eating.

But! Be careful not to think that the more carbohydrates you consume, the more active you will be. Not at all. You need to know which carbohydrates to eat.

There are fast (or simple), and there are slow (complex), so, when eating fast carbohydrates (sweets, pastry, rolls, etc.) there is a rapid rise in blood sugar, a quick jump in energy and the same rapid fading of activity.

Slow carbohydrates are digested in a different way, more gradually, they also gradually release energy, but they also last longer.

If you ate sneakers for lunch, you may feel a surge of energy in the first 30-40 minutes, and then sleepiness and fatigue will come - this is a sharp drop in sugar levels, a jump in which was observed after eating fast carbohydrates.

So the choice is better to make in favor of slow carbohydrates (buckwheat, lentils, whole grain bread, dark rice, etc.), they will prevent glucose surges and the associated drowsiness.

5. Elementary overeating

The last reliable reason why you want to sleep after eating is elementary overeating.

When doctors say that you need to eat often, but little by little, they turn not only to those who want to maintain or acquire a slim figure.

This rule helps to prevent the breakdown of everyone who regularly nodding at their desk in the afternoon.

Large portions of food fall like a stone in the stomach and, as they say, force a person to lie down in order to digest the incredible amount of calories that he "loaded" into himself.

Moreover, while the body is working, coping with the abundance of food, it gets very tired and ... manages to get hungry again, the person, roughly speaking, wakes up and wants to eat again: "Eat, you can sleep, sleep - you can eat."

Why does a person overeat? Because he has been feeling hungry for a long time, and in order to avoid it, you need to regularly eat something - ideally, eat a small portion every three hours.

Also, a fractional meal perfectly maintains the already mentioned blood sugar level at the proper level, which means that your energy potential remains consistently high throughout the day.

In addition, with this diet, you will always feel light and comfortable.

Try to always have fresh vegetables on your table. They contribute to quick satiety and complete digestion of food.

Today many people sit on and know well how hunger can distract from work and prevent sleep. A hungry person has one thought in his head: "Now we will eat and then with renewed vigor I will continue to work!" However, in reality, the opposite is true: after a hearty lunch or dinner, you no longer want to work, but a strong desire arises to lie down and rest, and there you immediately feel sleepy. Moreover, this happens to people of all ages, regardless of how much weight and temperament they have. What is the reason for such drowsiness and what should you eat so that you do not want to sleep?

The most popular explanation for the fact that after hearty meal We want to sleep the following: after eating, our body automatically redistributes the blood flow to the organs that digest food, as a result of which the brain cells lack oxygen and therefore there is a feeling of fatigue and a desire to sleep. Of course, the digestion process requires more energy from the body than in a state when the stomach is empty.

The body needs to provide not only good digestion of foodbut also send nutrients to all organs and systems. Moreover, the more food enters the stomach and the more difficult it is to digest, the more it tends to sleep. Therefore, in order not to want to sleep, you need to eat right. Overeating and overuse of foods that cause fatigue should not be allowed. These include:

1. Sweets... Sweets contain a lot of sugar, which is a "fast carbohydrate" that immediately makes you feel full. They are digested in a short period of time and provoke another hunger attack. This leads to constant fluctuations in the flow of glucose into the blood, as a result of which fatigue and the desire to lie down develop.

2. Fried and fatty foods... Fatty chicken legs, fried potatoes and other high-calorie foods are traditionally loved by everyone, despite the fact that nutritionists call them extremely harmful. All fatty and fried foods invariably require a lot of energy to digest them. Therefore, the body's forces for their splitting and assimilation are spent faster, as a result of which, after eating a meal containing a lot of calories, a decrease in working capacity occurs and you want to go to bed.

3. Bread, bakery products and other flour products... Flour products, like sugar, are referred to as "fast" carbohydrates. Therefore, if you eat a lot of bread and other flour products, you can get the same effect as after eating sweets. In addition, flour contains gluten, which, when interacting with water, swells in the stomach, which causes a feeling of overeating and increased blood flow to the digestive organs. As a result, after eating fluffy buns and delicious pies immediately pulls to lie down and rest.

4. Salty and spicy foods... Many people do not start eating without first adding salt, pepper and other hot spices to their dishes. Meanwhile, the abuse of salt and hot spices is the most common cause of fatigue, since the body has to "work" in difficult conditions to digest such food. Salt retains fluid in tissues, while hot spices excite nerve endings. All this leads to a malfunction of the systems and organs, which is natural and contributes to the desire to sleep.

To not want sleep, it is not at all necessary not to eat at all. You just need to eat in small portions five times a day, while the menu must include vegetables, fruits, whole grains and dairy products. Apples, nuts, pomegranates, legumes, seeds, lean meats and cheese especially help to cope with drowsiness. They contain iron, magnesium, and thiamine, which help keep you awake.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with being at home ate and lay down to rest a little. It is good for health and nervousness not to overload yourself with work during the day, especially mental work. With this in mind, a tradition has been introduced in Japan and some Asian countries - to arrange a so-called "quiet hour" in the afternoon. Employers in these countries decided to take into account the physiological need of the body for rest after meals and assigned special places where people could sleep.

In Spain also at lunchtime comes " siesta", which means rest after eating. Unfortunately, in our country at work, few can afford such a luxury, although the crazy rhythm of today's life and monotonous work lead to the fact that many of us want to constantly sleep and fall asleep right at the workplace. applies to those who work two jobs or sit at the computer at night and do not have the opportunity to fully sleep.

Every person has their reasonsthat make him work at night. If you are one of those who, like Napoleon, thinks that "a man sleeps for 4 hours, a woman for 5 hours, an idiot for 6 hours," try not to eat heavy foods, do not overeat and combine foods correctly. If you have a lot of work to do after eating, avoid foods that make you sleepy. Food should be light and simple, allowing you to cope with sleepiness and stay alert until the end of the day.

And finally, to all those who work at night and want overcome sleepiness, we advise you to use a method that 100% interrupts the desire to sleep. Have a glass of coffee and go to bed with your alarm set 15 minutes ahead of the time you went to bed. After a 15 minute nap, be sure to get up and keep working. After such a short rest, you will immediately feel a new boost of energy and will be able to continue to work effectively. But you can't sleep more than 15 minutes. The fact is that the effect of caffeine begins in 20 minutes, before that time the body needs to have time to "rest", and after 30 minutes the stage of deep sleep begins. This means, waking up after half an hour, after going to bed, you will feel completely overwhelmed.

- Return to the section table of contents " "

We all know that food is a source of energy. Why, then, do many people face such a phenomenon as weakness after eating, drowsiness and decreased performance? You just want to, after a hearty dinner, lie down and take a nap for at least 20-25 minutes. The desire becomes so irresistible that there is no strength to fight it. What to do in such a situation?

First of all, you should find out why it becomes bad after eating, and then take measures to eliminate the annoying ailment.

Sleepiness after eating is quite common.

Causes of Afternoon Weakness

Let's try to figure out why after eating food there is weakness and you want to lie down. There are many reasons for this condition. Some of them are not associated with a serious illness and are explained by an improperly selected diet or a failure in the diet. Others are indicative of serious health problems and require close attention.

Below we will talk about this topic in more detail, find out in what cases weakness appears after eating, and learn about its causes.

Heavy and junk food

We all perfectly understand how useful healthy and complete diet... But for some reason we continue to eat food that is harmful to our health. Fatty meats, fried potatoes, sausages, ketchup, and mayonnaise all cause weakness and drowsiness after dinner.

An afternoon nap is often caused by a heavy and hearty meal.

The explanation is quite simple. It takes a lot of energy to digest and assimilate heavy and fatty foods. The body, having done hard work and decomposing food into nutrients, loses a huge amount of energy, the lack of which is manifested by drowsiness after a hearty and plentiful meal.

Feeling unwell after eating can be caused by too much tyramine. The amino acid increases epinephrine and dopamine levels, but lowers serotonin levels. This ultimately leads to a sharp narrowing of the vessels of the brain, oxygen starvation and severe weakness. Dizziness and loss of consciousness are possible.

For people with a history of vegetative-vascular dystonia, it is advisable to limit the use of foods containing tyramine:

1. Cheese and dairy dishes.
2. Bitter chocolate and overripe fruits.
3. Citrus.
4. Meat and sausages.
5. Alcohol.
6. Fried, fatty and smoked foods.

Biochemical processes

Modern scientists argue that the main cause of drowsiness after a meal is an increase in the concentration of glucose in the blood. This substance reduces the production of orexin, which is responsible for physical activity. Let's see how this happens.

Simple carbohydrates, found in sugars and confectionery, cause a breakdown in the afternoon

The gastrointestinal tract is directly related to the endocrine system of the body. During hunger, the brain begins to actively synthesize the hormone orexin. The substance stimulates a person to stay awake and search for food.

After lunch, which usually consists of simple carbohydrates, most of the glucose from the digestive tract does not have time to be absorbed by the cells and is concentrated in the blood. As a result, the brain decreases the production of orexin, and symptoms such as fatigue and decreased performance appear.

Council. To reduce the likelihood of developing afternoon sleepiness, you should limit your intake of simple sugars and replace them with proteins.

Concomitant gastrointestinal pathologies

Often, weakness after a meal can be triggered by gastrointestinal diseases. If afternoon sleepiness is accompanied by discomfort in the epigastric region, nausea, flatulence and stool disturbance, the following pathologies are likely to develop:

• ulcers of the stomach and duodenum;
• gastritis;
• cholelithiasis;
• inflammation of the pancreas;
• enteritis.

To identify the reasons feeling unwell after eating and making an accurate diagnosis, you should consult a specialist.

Very often, an afternoon breakdown occurs after resection or gastroenterostomy. The dumping syndrome (accelerated evacuation of stomach contents into the small intestine) becomes a complication of the operation. In medical practice, cases of the development of malaise are known in persons who have not undergone surgical treatment.

Pathology is formed in 30% of patients in postoperative period... The disease appears against the background of a violation of the digestion process and does not depend on the amount of food eaten.

Dumping syndrome is one of the most common causes of poor health after a meal.

There are three degrees of development of the disease:

1. Lightweight. Attacks of general weakness appear while eating or during the first 10-12 minutes after it. They last no more than half an hour and pass on their own.
2. Average. At this stage, the patient becomes ill immediately after eating. Sweating intensifies, drowsiness develops, dizziness, tinnitus and tremors of the limbs may appear. The symptoms become so severe that the patient has to lie down.
3. Heavy. Seizures can develop after eating any food. Lasts at least three hours and is accompanied by an increase in heart rate, shortness of breath, migraine, numbness of the extremities. Weakness often faints.

Dumping syndrome most often occurs after consuming dairy products or foods high in carbohydrates.

Council. To reduce the severity of the symptoms of the disease, nutritionists recommend switching to fractional meals in small portions. Liquid and solid foods should be eaten separately at intervals of 30 minutes. Eliminate foods with a high content of fats, carbohydrates and sugars from the diet. After finishing lunch, you should lie down for 20-30 minutes.

Other causes of loss of energy after eating

Medical practice shows that the cause of afternoon weakness can be various disorders of the body's regulatory system. Therefore, if after eating regularly you want to sleep and you feel weak, you should visit a doctor as soon as possible. Such symptoms may portend the onset of endocrine disease.

Diabetes

This disease develops against the background of disorders of carbohydrate metabolism and an increase in the concentration of glucose in the blood and urine.

Diabetes mellitus is usually accompanied by drowsiness and decreased performance

With this ailment, afternoon weakness is accompanied by:

• intense thirst and frequent urination;
• rapid weight loss;
• poor regeneration of the skin;
• sleepiness after a meal.

When these symptoms appear, an urgent need to visit a doctor and measure blood sugar. You can find out why this is so important in the video at the end of the article.

Diabetes mellitus is not a fatal disease. A strict diet and adherence to the doctor's recommendations will help to overcome fatigue and drowsiness after eating, increase efficiency and quality of life.

Hard diet

Excessive restriction of the diet, caused by attempts to lose weight, often end in grandiose breakdowns, during which a person is able to eat a huge amount of food. In this case, there are signs similar to the dumping syndrome.

However, in this case, weakness after eating food is provoked by a long-term lack of nutrition, and drowsiness is caused by banal overeating, with which a person who is no longer used to work digestive system just can't cope.

Council. Such extreme weight loss methods can lead to the development of bulimia or anorexia. The latter, as a rule, provoke mental disorders and are very difficult to treat. Therefore, it is not advisable to get carried away with fasting and strict diets.

Afternoon weakness during pregnancy

Carrying a baby is a very responsible and difficult period in a mother's life. The body of the future woman in labor is under enormous stress and spends a lot of energy on maintaining life.

Afternoon sleepiness in pregnant women occurs against the background of a decrease in blood pressure

Weakness after eating in pregnant women develops due to the large expenditure of energy for digesting food. At the same time, blood flow significantly increases in the gastrointestinal tract, which leads to a decrease in blood pressure and, as a result, to a decline in strength and drowsiness.

Council. You should not ignore these symptoms and hope that everything will go away on its own. It is possible that they are the first signs of an endocrine disease or other disorder in a woman's body. Therefore, it is necessary to inform the doctor about unpleasant symptoms.

They say that even Archimedes knew why he wanted to sleep after eating. It is worth considering where the famous verse about this thinker came from. Most likely, the name of a famous Greek scientist was used simply for rhyme. We can agree that the phrase about "sleep after dinner" has become a part of the life of many people. But is this need for a short rest really necessary?

Archimedes' law
After a hearty lunch
Supposed to sleep.
Don't work, don't play
Do not read, do not paint,
And hug Morpheus.
For a little while, for a little bit
Take a little nap.
The benefits of sleep are doubly visible:
You have digested the food
The brain supplied food:
And he speeded up the work.
Generated ideas -
There will be trophies soon.

Why did lunch become "sleeping pills"?

1. Disrupted sleep mode... Obviously, a person who sleeps less than 6-8 hours a night will not feel the most the best way... He simply does not get enough sleep. There are exceptions to the rule, when 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep is enough for some for the proper level of vigor. Throughout the history of mankind, there have been only a few unique cases when individuals did not need the sleep process at all.

2. The stomach is full... The body is quite "hardworking". If necessary, he will try to devote the bulk of his energy to digesting food. For these purposes, blood is directed to the stomach and intestines in order to accelerate the process of breaking down food into its constituents.

At the same time, several complex processes are launched: food recognition, the release of the necessary substances, the distribution of the resulting material throughout the body. Feeling tired. The more you eat, the higher your desire to rest or even sleep.

3. The meals taken inside were high in calories... At any sweet food contains a huge amount of carbohydrates, which are subsequently converted into glucose. It is known as the easiest and fastest source of energy for the entire body. An excess of the dose of this substance, oddly enough, causes a feeling of drowsiness, and not high alertness.

This reaction is due to the ability of glucose to block the production of orexin. It is he who is responsible for the state of wakefulness in the human body. Therefore, all kinds of pies, buns, bread, muffins, cookies, pasta lead to an obsession with taking a horizontal position of the body. Products made from white flour, fried in a large amount of oil, are especially strong.

If the end of the meal cannot end with rest, then it is better to slightly correct the menu. It is beneficial to include protein-rich foods. For example, boiled meat, fish, legumes, nuts, buckwheat. The amino acids included in their composition contribute to the better production of orexin, which will give the necessary boost of vivacity after eating.

It is interesting:

There is a myth that dietary turkey meat has a hypnotic effect on human bodyas it contains a large amount of tryptophan. Melatonin (the hormone responsible for sleep and wakefulness of a person) is formed from it. In fact, turkey has about the same tryptophan as most other meats. Therefore, it is worth looking for the cause of drowsiness in something else. The bird is not to blame!

People want to sleep not only after eating, exercising and overwork. Sleepiness depends on the season. In winter, the air contains less oxygen. It also decreases the ability to eat fruits and vegetables. In this regard, few vitamins enter the body. A whole set of factors leads to the fact that the processes inside the body begin to slow down and more and more often you want to sleep.

This explains why bears sleep in their dens in winter. People, on the other hand, can only dream about this opportunity when the mouth opens for another portion of yawning in the cold season. It is in winter that the thoughts of a warm blanket and a light nap near the fireplace most often overwhelm.

Many people know that you can't eat too much sweets. But few people know the permissible rate of "pure sugar". But it is only 50 g per day! Indeed, it is very difficult to adhere to such recommendations. Is that to follow a strict diet ...

In Italy, Spain and Greece there is such a thing as siesta - an afternoon rest. Its history is deeply rooted in the past. Even in ancient Rome, after a plentiful meal, people rested, hiding from the scorching sun. Scientists have investigated this fact and have determined that the optimal duration of a siesta is 30 minutes.

Based on research in this area, many Japanese companies have regulated their employees' afternoon naps with a single goal: to increase the productivity of all employees. In countries post-Soviet space such a tradition, alas, did not take root!

It is recommended that you be aware of other causes of drowsiness. Sometimes a constant urge to take a nap can be caused by illness (depression, anemia). Therefore, it would be appropriate to visit a doctor to check your own health.