Why do I feel sleepy after eating? Is it normal to be sleepy after eating

People feel sleepy after eating because elevated blood sugar levels inhibit the neurons in the human brain that remain awake and alert. It is when a person eats a large amount of food, a large amount of blood in the body runs to the gastrointestinal tract, so that the brain is ischemia, and it will be sleepy, in addition, after the gastrointestinal tract begins to work, it can also inhibit brain activity through nervous system regulation, and it will also feel sleepy This is a normal physiological phenomenon, and there is no need to deliberately adjust it. However, it is better to eat on time and eat less before going to bed at night to allow your stomach to rest for a while.

1. This phenomenon can be called macro return to accompany "postprandial drowsiness" or "food sleepiness", food sleepiness, also called "foodcoma" in English, many people understand that in order to digest food after a full meal, the blood entering the gastrointestinal tract will increase, and the blood in the brain will decrease, so the brain produces a short period of ischemia and hypoxia, and people will feel sleepy and want to sleep. This is a normal physiological phenomenon.

2. Before and after eating, there was no significant change in the amount of blood in the carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain. Cerebral blood vessels have their own regulatory mechanism, when blood pressure is lowered, cerebral vasodilation to increase blood supply and keep blood ** stable; When blood pressure rises, the cerebral blood vessels constrict to reduce the blood supply, and the blood remains stable.

3. British scientists claim to have studied the causes of being overfed and sleepy. That is, there is an orexin nerve cell in the lower part of the optic thalamus of the brain, which can produce a protein called orexin, which regulates appetite and keeps the brain awake; When a person eats, the ingestion of glucose can inhibit the activity of orexin nerve cells, so the person will feel sleepy. Several human and animal experiments have also proved this view.

When we take in food, the gastrointestinal tract begins to digest food, and the blood will be concentrated in the gastrointestinal tract, and the blood supply to the brain will be reduced by concentrating on digesting food and absorbing nutrients, so it is normal to feel sleepy after eating.

To reduce sleepiness after meals, you should minimize the intake of white rice and steamed buns, which are foods with a high glycemic index, at lunchtime, and do not consume sugary drinks. Do not sit down immediately after eating, it is recommended to walk slowly for 20-30 minutes.

I often feel sleepy after lunch, is this because the blood is concentrated in the stomach and away from the brain?

Not really. Many people think that after eating, the blood of the whole body is concentrated in the digestive system to help gastrointestinal peristalsis and digestion, which will cause insufficient blood supply to the brain and make the brain lack oxygen, and people will feel sleepy, but this is not scientific.

As the most important organ of the human body, the human body will give priority to ensuring the blood of the brain**, if the brain is really as many people think that the brain is deprived of oxygen due to the reduction of blood supply, then the person should have a feeling of dizziness instead of simply being sleepy. Foreign studies have indeed found that the blood flow to the brain after meals not only decreases but increases.

So why is there "food sleepiness"?

This is mostly related to the endocrine status of the human body after meals. When a person eats a high-carbohydrate food, the blood sugar rises, which inhibits the hypothalamus from secreting an appetite hormone, which is low in protein hormones, making the person feel tired and drowsy.

In addition, researchers in the United States found that the secretion of cholecystokinin may be related to drowsiness after meals, and the researchers tested the amount of cholecystokinin secretion and drowsiness scale scores of the subjects before and after meals, and found that there was a positive correlation between the two, that is, the more cholecystokinin secretion, the more sleepy people were. If the food you eat is too greasy, you will secrete a lot of cholecystokinin, which may also be the reason for feeling "sleepy" after eating.

Sleepiness after meals is a typical symptom of spleen deficiency.

One of the main functions of the spleen is to be responsible for transport and digestion. Mizutani into the stomach. After the initial digestion by the stomach, it is sent down to the spleen, which further digests and absorbs it.

After that, the spleen qi helps to return the essence to the lungs, and from the lungs to all parts of the body to nourish the internal organs and organs, so when the spleen qi is healthy, the person's digestive function is good, and the body is rich in muscles and full of energy.

When the workload of the spleen increases suddenly after eating, the spleen system needs more qi and blood to help the spleen complete the digestion, absorption, and transportation of nutrients to food, which will inevitably lead to a decrease in blood and qi in other organs of the body, and when the brain qi and blood ** decrease, symptoms of drowsiness will appear.