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The working day is in full swing, the lunch break has passed. But instead of embarking on righteous works 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 cause of 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 an embrasure.
- So that a person does not cancel this important procedure with his volitional decision, the body turns off the sympathetic component of the peripheral nervous system (responsible for activating the reaction, muscles) and turns on another part - the parasympathetic one.
- It is in charge of the functions of relaxing muscles, slowing the heartbeat.
- A person calms down, drowsiness creeps up, food is calmly digested, saturating the body with useful substances.
The second reason for sleepiness after eating is productionhormones.
Why do you want to sleep after eating?
- The human body in wakeful 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.
- When you eat, you release the satiety hormone leptin.
- It is directly related to chemical reactions occurring during the production of glucose in the body.
- Leptin inhibits the production of orexin. As a result, a person is drawn to sleep after eating.
What to do so that you do not fall asleep after eating?
Do not provoke jumps in blood sugar. Glucose is the result of the breakdown of carbohydrates.
The faster they break down, the greater the one-time release of glucose into the blood.
- the use of slow carbohydrates prolongs and distributes in time the supply of glucose to the body, i.e. energy. And after eating fast carbohydrates, the amount of sugar in the blood decreases very quickly and after eating you want to sleep;
- you shouldn't overeat.
The body has to spend more time digesting excess food.
Why do you want to sleep after eating? “Sleep, you can eat! Eat - 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, in any case, in their second part, a fair amount of truth is hidden: after a hearty dinner, most people are irresistibly drawn to sleep. Why is that?
Food is like a source vital energy and suddenly such a paradoxical effect on the body - no efficiency, apathy, and among thoughts only one, where to lie down?
Scientists believe that they have already figured out why food has such a relaxing effect on a person and how to avoid lethargy at work in the afternoon. Here's what they say about it.
1. Sympathetic and parasympathetic
The desire to plunge into a pleasant slumber after eating is associated with the peculiarities of the functioning of the human nervous system, or rather its vegetative part.
Vegetative nervous system very thin 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 (vegetative disorders are the most common in the psycho-neurological practice of doctors). 
It is also responsible for the state of inhibition and activity in the body.
The vegetative system consists of two components: sympathetic, which exacerbates reactions, enhances reflexes, tones muscles, and parasympathetic, acting in the opposite direction - relaxes, calms, reduces the intensity and number of heart contractions.
So, it has been proven that after eating, the predominant effect of the parasympathetic component of the human vegetative system is observed, that is, the whole body relaxes.
Under the influence of parasympathetics, the blood supply is redistributed - the main part flows to the organs of the gastrointestinal tract (after all, food needs to be digested, and this is serious work), while less blood enters the muscles and 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 the desire to protect its owner from tension (a constant companion of the influence of the sympathetic department), which interferes with the absorption of food, gives him a pleasant bliss and a desire to take a nap.
It has been observed that the denser the food, the stronger the desire to fall asleep.
2. Chronic lack of sleep
This problem is faced by most residents of large cities, forced to live in a very intense rhythm.
In this mode, the body tries to use for its own benefit every opportunity to relax - sleep, and after eating the most favorable time.
3. Water deficiency in the body
Yes, even insufficient fluid intake can trigger bouts of afternoon sleepiness.
If you drink little water, you do not add to the body one of the most important nutrients necessary to ensure the necessary energy balance, the normal course of metabolic processes.
The volume of water drunk directly affects the volume of blood in the circulatory system, blood pressure, at work of the heart.
With its lack of blood pressure falls, there is lethargy, constant fatigue, "fog" in the head, drowsiness.
4. "Sweet dream"
A hearty meal provokes a sharp rise in blood sugar, which is considered one of the main reasons for the desire to go "on the side" after lunch or dinner. 
Sugar levels are the most important marker of a person's health status. It appears as a result of the processing of carbohydrates - substances responsible for the amount of energy released after eating.
But! Be careful and do not think that the more carbohydrates you eat, the more active you will be. Not at all. You need to know what kind of carbohydrates to eat.
There are fast (or simple), and there are slow (complex), and so, when eating fast carbohydrates(sweets, confectionery, rolls, etc.) there is a rapid rise in blood sugar, a quick jump in energy and the same rapid decay of activity.
Slow carbohydrates are digested differently, more gradually, they also gradually release energy, but they also last longer.
If you ate snickers for lunch, you may feel a surge of energy in the first 30-40 minutes, and then drowsiness and fatigue will set in - this is a sharp drop in sugar levels, a jump in which was observed after eating fast carbohydrates.
So it is better to make a choice in favor of slow carbohydrates (buckwheat, lentils, whole grain bread, dark rice, etc.), they will prevent glucose surges and the sleepiness associated with them.
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 are not only addressing those who want to maintain or acquire a slender figure.
This rule helps to prevent a breakdown in anyone who regularly nods at their desk in the afternoon.
Large portions of food lie 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, a person, roughly speaking, wakes up and wants to eat again: “Eat, you can sleep, sleep - you can eat.”
Why does a person overeat? because long time feels hungry, and to avoid it, you need to regularly refresh yourself with something - ideally, eat a small portion every three hours.
Also, fractional nutrition 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 the rapid saturation and complete digestion of food.
Today many people they sit on and know well how hunger can distract them from work and prevent them from falling asleep. A hungry person has one thought in his head: "Now let's sing and then I will continue to work with renewed vigor!" However, in reality, the opposite is true: after a hearty lunch or dinner, you don’t feel like working at all, but there is a strong desire to lie down and relax, and there you immediately feel like sleeping. And this happens with 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 dense 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 process of digestion requires more energy from the body than when the stomach is empty.
The body needs to provide not only good digestion of food but also send nutrients to all organs and systems. At the same time, the more food enters the stomach and the more difficult it is to digest, the more sleepy. Therefore, in order not to want to sleep, you need to eat right. Do not overeat and abuse foods that cause fatigue. These include:
1. Sweets. Sweets contain a lot of sugar, which belongs to the "fast carbohydrates" that immediately cause a feeling of satiety. They are digested short period time and provoke a new bout of hunger. This leads to constant fluctuations in the flow of glucose into the blood, as a result of which fatigue and a 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 unhealthy. All fat and fried foods invariably require a large amount 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 one wants to go to bed.
3. Bread, bakery products and other flour products. Flour products, like sugar, are classified 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 lush buns and delicious pies immediately pulls to lie down and rest.
4. Salty and spicy food. Many people do not begin to eat without first adding salt, pepper and other hot spices to the dishes. Meanwhile, the abuse of pickles 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 the tissues, and hot spices excite the nerve endings. All this leads to a malfunction in the functioning of systems and organs, which is natural and contributes to the desire to sleep.
To not want sleep You don't have to not eat at all. You just need to eat small portions five times a day, while the menu must contain vegetables, fruits, whole grains and sour-milk products. Apples, nuts, pomegranates, legumes, seeds, lean meats, and cheese are especially helpful in coping with sleepiness. They contain iron, magnesium and thiamine, which promote wakefulness.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with being at home ate and lay down to rest a little. For health and nervous calm, it is useful not to burden yourself with work during the day, especially mental work. With this in mind, in Japan and some Asian countries, a tradition was introduced - to arrange the so-called "quiet hour" after dinner. Employers in these countries decided to take into account the physiological need of the body to rest after eating and set aside special places where people could sleep.
In Spain also at lunchtime comes " siesta", meaning 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. This is especially applies to those who work two jobs or sit at the computer at night and do not have the opportunity to get enough sleep.
Every person has your reasons that make him work at night. If you are one of those who, like Napoleon, believes that "a man sleeps 4 hours, a woman sleeps 5, an idiot sleeps 6", try not to eat heavy meals, do not overeat and combine foods correctly. If you have a lot of work to do after eating, avoid eating foods that make you want to sleep. Food should be light and simple, allowing you to cope with drowsiness and stay alert until the end of the working day.
And in conclusion, to all those who work at night and want overcome drowsiness, we advise you to apply 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 when you went to bed. After taking a nap for 15 minutes, be sure to get up and continue 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 after 20 minutes, until this time the body needs to have time to "rest", and after 30 minutes the stage of deep sleep begins. This means that after waking up in half an hour, as you went to bed, you will feel completely overwhelmed.
- Return to the section heading " "
We all know that food is a source of energy. Why, then, do many face such a phenomenon as weakness after eating, drowsiness and decreased performance? It makes you want to, after a hearty lunch, 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 post-prandial weakness
Let's try to figure out why, after eating food, weakness occurs 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 indicate serious health problems and require close attention.
Below we will talk on this topic in more detail, find out in which cases weakness appears after eating, and learn about its causes.
Heavy and junk food
We all understand perfectly well how useful a 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 a feeling of sleepiness after dinner.
The reason for the afternoon nap is often a heavy and satisfying meal.
This is explained quite simply. It takes a lot of effort 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 dinner.
Poor health after eating can be caused by an excess of tyramine. The amino acid increases the level of epinephrine and dopamine, but lowers the concentration of serotonin. This eventually leads to a sharp narrowing of the cerebral vessels, oxygen starvation and great weakness. Possible dizziness and loss of consciousness.
For people with a history of vegetative dystonia, it is advisable to limit the use of products containing tyramine:
- Cheese and dairy products.
- Bitter chocolate and overripe fruit.
- Citrus.
- Meat and sausages.
- Alcohol.
- Fried, fatty and smoked foods.
Biochemical processes
Modern scientists argue that the main cause of drowsiness after eating 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 sugar and confectionery, cause a breakdown in energy after dinner.
The gastrointestinal tract is directly connected with the endocrine system of the body. During hunger, the brain begins to actively synthesize the hormone orexin. The substance stimulates a person to wake up and search for food.
After lunch, which most often consists of simple carbohydrates, most of the glucose received from the gastrointestinal tract does not have time to be absorbed by the cells and is concentrated in the blood. As a result, the brain reduces the production of orexin, and symptoms such as loss of strength and decreased performance appear.
Advice. To reduce your chances of developing afternoon sleepiness, you should limit your intake of simple sugars and replace them with proteins.
Associated pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract
Often, weakness after eating can be triggered by diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. If afternoon drowsiness 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 find out the reasons feeling unwell after eating and making an accurate diagnosis, you should consult a specialist.
Very often, the afternoon breakdown occurs after resection or gastroenterostomy. A complication of the operation is dumping syndrome (accelerated evacuation of the contents of the stomach into the small intestine). In medical practice, cases of the development of malaise in persons who have not undergone surgical treatment are known.
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 deterioration in well-being after a meal.
There are three stages of the development of the disease:
- Light. Attacks of general weakness appear during meals or during the first 10-12 minutes after it. They last no more than half an hour and pass on their own.
- Average. At this stage, the patient becomes ill immediately after eating. Sweating increases, drowsiness develops, dizziness, tinnitus and tremor of the limbs may appear. The symptoms become so severe that the patient has to lie down.
- Heavy. Attacks can develop after eating any food. Last at least three hours and are accompanied by an increase in heart rate, shortness of breath, migraine, numbness of the extremities. Weakness often turns into fainting.
Dumping syndrome most often occurs after eating dairy products or foods high in carbohydrates.
Advice. To reduce the severity of the symptoms of the disease, nutritionists recommend switching to fractional meals in small portions. Liquid and solid food should be consumed separately with an interval of 30 minutes. Eliminate foods high in fat, carbohydrates and sugars from the diet. After finishing dinner, you should lie down for 20-30 minutes.
Other Causes of Loss of Energy After Eating
Medical practice shows that the cause of after-dinner weakness can be various violations of the body's regulatory system. Therefore, if you regularly feel sleepy after eating and feel weak, you should visit a doctor as soon as possible. Such symptoms may herald the onset of an 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, after-dinner weakness is accompanied by:
- intense thirst and frequent urination;
- rapid weight loss;
- poor regeneration of the skin;
- drowsiness after a meal.
If these symptoms appear, it is urgent to visit a doctor and measure blood sugar. Why this is so important, you can find out from the video at the end of the article.
Diabetes is not a fatal disease. A strict diet and adherence to the doctor's recommendations will help overcome fatigue and drowsiness after eating, increase efficiency and quality of life.
Rigid diet
Excessive dietary restrictions caused by attempts to lose weight often end in grandiose breakdowns, during which a person is able to eat a huge amount of food. At the same time, signs similar to the dumping syndrome are observed.
However, in this case, weakness after eating food is provoked by a long-term lack of nutrition, and drowsiness is caused by a banal overeating, with which she has become unaccustomed to work. digestive system it just doesn't work.
Advice. Such extreme methods of losing weight 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 involved in starvation and strict diets.
Afternoon weakness during pregnancy
Carrying a child is a very responsible and difficult period in a mother's life. The body of a 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 the digestion of food. At the same time, blood flow in the gastrointestinal tract increases significantly, which leads to a decrease in blood pressure and, as a result, to a breakdown and drowsiness.
Advice. 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 after eating you want to sleep. It is worth considering where the famous verse about this thinker came from. Most likely, the name of the famous Greek scientist was used simply for rhyme. We can agree that the phrase about "sleep after dinner" has closely entered the lives of many people. But is this need for a short rest really necessary?
According to the law of Archimedes
After a hearty lunch
Sleep is supposed to be.
Don't work, don't play
Don't read, don't draw
And embrace Morpheus.
For a little while, just a little
Take a nap and take a nap.
The benefits of sleep are twofold:
You have digested food
The brain is supplied with food:
And he speeded up the work.
Generated ideas -
Trophies coming soon.
Why did lunch become "sleeping pills"?
1. Violated sleep pattern. Obviously, a person who sleeps less than 6-8 hours at night will feel not the most the best way. He simply doesn't sleep. There are exceptions to the rule, when some people need 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep for the proper level of vigor. In the entire history of mankind, there have been only a few unique cases when individuals did not need the sleep process at all.
2. Full stomach. The body is quite "hardworking". If necessary, he will try to allocate the bulk of his strength to the digestion of food. For these purposes, blood is sent to the stomach and intestines to speed up the process of breaking down food into its constituents.
At the same time, several complex processes are launched: food recognition, the release of necessary substances, the distribution of the resulting material throughout the body. There is a feeling of fatigue. The more eaten, the higher the desire to rest or even sleep.
3. Ingested Meals 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. Exceeding the dose of this substance, oddly enough, causes a feeling of drowsiness, and not high vigor.
This reaction is explained by 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, have a particularly strong effect.
If the end of the meal cannot end with a rest, then it is better to slightly adjust the menu. It is useful to include foods rich in proteins. For example, boiled meat, fish, legumes, nuts, buckwheat. The amino acids included in their composition contribute to a better production of orexin, which will give the necessary boost of energy after eating.
This is interesting:
There is a myth that dietary turkey meat has a hypnotic effect on human body because it contains a large amount of tryptophan. It produces melatonin (a hormone responsible for sleep and wakefulness of a person). In fact, there is about the same amount of tryptophan in turkey as in most other meat products. Therefore, it is worth looking for the cause of drowsiness in something else. It's not the bird's fault!
People want to sleep not only after eating, exercising and overworking. Sleepiness is directly related to the time of year. In winter, the air contains less oxygen. It also reduces the ability to eat fruits and vegetables. In this regard, the body receives little vitamins. A whole combination of factors leads to the fact that the processes inside the body begin to slow down and more and more you want to sleep.
This explains why bears sleep in their dens in winter. People can only dream of this opportunity when their mouths open for another portion of yawning in the cold season. It is in winter that thoughts of a warm blanket and a light nap near the fireplace most often overcome.
Many people know that you can not eat a lot of sweets. But few people know the allowable rate of "pure sugar". But it is equal to only 50 g per day! Indeed, it is very difficult to adhere to such recommendations. Unless you follow a strict diet...
In Italy, Spain and Greece, there is such a thing as a siesta - an afternoon rest. Its history goes deep into the past. Even in ancient Rome, after a hearty meal, people rested, hiding from the scorching sun. Scientists have investigated this fact and decided 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 one single goal: to increase the productivity of all employees. In countries post-Soviet space Unfortunately, this tradition did not survive!
It is recommended to be aware of other causes of drowsiness. Sometimes a constant desire to take a nap can be caused by an illness (depression, anemia). Therefore, it would be appropriate to visit a doctor to check your own health.
