Home LivingWellnessSleepDoes Thanksgiving turkey actually make you sleepy?Turkey makes you tired: Is this fact or fiction?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Home LivingWellnessSleepDoes Thanksgiving turkey actually make you sleepy?Turkey makes you tired: Is this fact or fiction?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Turkey makes you tired: Is this fact or fiction?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Ekaterina Bolovtsova / Pexels)
(Image credit: Ekaterina Bolovtsova / Pexels)
With Thanksgiving coming up, we’re sure you’re looking forward to overindulging on food and drink, particularly the star of the show… the roast turkey. After consuming your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, turkey is always to blame when you’re excessively yawning or you’ve just fallen asleep on thebest mattressfor a quick nap.
Year on year, we hear the same thing about turkey making you sleepy – but is this true or is it just an old wives tale? The quick answer to whether turkey makes you tired or not is… yes and no.
These two hormones regulate your mood, sleep cycle, appetite and pain levels, so if you’ve got more melatonin or serotonin in your body, you’re more likely to feel sleepy or in a happier mood. Therefore, it’s a possibility that after eating turkey, the tryptophan within it can cause you to feel a little sleepy.
(Image credit: Monstera / Pexels)
(Image credit: Monstera / Pexels)
Other than turkey, tryptophan (which humans don’t naturally produce, saysSleep Foundation) is in a variety of foods, including chicken, fish, nuts, seeds, cheese, eggs and legumes. Depending on your diet, you’re probably consuming many of these foods everyday, yet you don’t blame your cheese sandwich when you’re feeling tired!
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Carbs (which are a delicious staple at most festive lunches) cause your blood sugar to rise quickly. In combination with feeling full, this spike can result in a crash later on, which makes you feel tired and less alert. If you’ve also been drinking alcohol with your Thanksgiving meal, this will make you feel fatigued and more likely to indulge in an afternoon nap.
The moral of this story is… don’t blame the turkey if you’re tired this Thanksgiving! Chances are, you’re just full, and as Thanksgiving and Christmas are holidays, you might as welltake the perfect napbefore the craziness of thebest Black Friday dealsbegin…
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