Feeling sleepy in spring, tired in autumn and nappy in summer, it turns out these foods make people feel dizzy!

Review expert: Wu Xinsheng, deputy chief physician of gastroenterology department

It is said that people feel sleepy in spring, tired in autumn, take naps in summer, and cannot wake up in winter.

As a worker, I feel sleepy all year round, but I feel especially sleepy after lunch. As soon as I finish lunch, I start to feel dizzy and have to take a nap. After the nap, I have to have a cup of coffee to wake myself up.

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Why do we feel so sleepy after eating? The popular saying is "digestive fatigue". After eating, blood flows to the stomach and intestines to promote digestion, and the brain is not supplied with enough blood. Is this really the case?

Post-meal sleepiness may be related to food

At present, the cause of drowsiness after meals is still in the unconfirmed stage. Some related studies believe that high-carb and high-fat diets can easily make people feel tired.

First of all, compared with a high-protein diet, a high-carb diet can increase the tryptophan content in the blood. After tryptophan enters the brain, it can be synthesized into 5-hydroxytryptamine, also known as serotonin. Serotonin is then converted into the familiar melatonin, which can promote and improve sleep. In addition, people are accustomed to eating refined rice and noodles, and rice and noodles are high GI (GI: glycemic index) foods, which can quickly increase blood sugar and increase satiety. However, when blood sugar rises, the body's orexin (hypothalamic secretin) content will decrease. When the content decreases, people will feel drowsy and unwilling to exercise.

Therefore, some people believe that the reason why China has the habit of taking a lunch break while the West does not may be due to different eating habits. Chinese lunch contains a higher proportion of carbohydrates.

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Secondly, a high-fat diet corresponds to high calories. Studies have shown that high-calorie foods can increase the level of an interleukin IL-1 in the human body, which can stimulate sleep-promoting neurons in the brain. The use of IL-1 antagonists can alleviate the symptoms of drowsiness after meals.

So it seems that high-carb and high-fat foods can indeed make people feel dizzy after eating .

In addition, there are other inferences. For example, people's sleep conditions are related to the circadian rhythm. People are more likely to feel tired between 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon, and they are even more likely to feel sleepy due to the influence of eating. Or, feeling sleepy after a meal is to store energy. When people sleep, they are in a low energy consumption state and can retain energy for a longer period of time.

These inferences seem to make sense, but no matter what they are, they are just guesses. Feeling sleepy after meals involves the involvement of multiple systems of the human body. Currently, there is no research that can clearly confirm what causes drowsiness after meals.

However, the term "digestive fatigue" is inaccurate , because there is no evidence that the blood flow to the brain decreases after eating. The human body has a self-regulating mechanism that will first ensure the stable blood supply to the most important organ of the human body, the brain. There is no situation where the blood supply to the brain is reduced for digestion. At most, the blood from other organs is transported to the stomach.

Drowsiness can also be a sign of illness

The various reasons mentioned above are all based on the assumption that the human body is in good health. However, some scholars have suggested that feeling sleepy after a meal may indicate a physical illness.

Feeling sleepy after eating may be due to postprandial hypotension .

After eating, the digestive system starts working and produces a feeling of fullness. The stomach expands and becomes congested, blood flow increases, while blood flow to other parts of the body decreases relatively. Blood pressure drops slightly, causing people to feel sleepy, their heart rate slows down, and their breathing slows down.

At this time, the body's self-regulatory mechanism comes into play, and it can quickly adjust blood pressure to maintain normal levels by constricting blood vessels and increasing heart rate, ensuring a stable blood supply to various organs. Therefore, healthy people will not have a significant drop in blood pressure regardless of how much they eat.

However, due to the decline in physical functions, the elderly's regulatory ability is weakened and their sensitivity to food stimulation is reduced. After eating, their blood pressure is easily lowered and the blood supply to the brain is insufficient, resulting in symptoms such as drowsiness, dizziness, and chest tightness, and there is a potential risk of fainting and falling.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Elderly people with high blood pressure should pay more attention to it. Severe hypotension can cause insufficient blood supply to the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems, leading to serious hazards such as myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction. Therefore, the elderly must pay attention to their physical condition and measure their blood pressure regularly to prevent hypotension.

Warm reminder: Since postprandial hypotension usually occurs after breakfast, it is best for elderly patients with hypertension to take antihypertensive drugs between meals and avoid taking them before meals.

How to reduce post-meal sleepiness?

For office workers and students, most of them still experience normal "food dizziness". In order to cope with busy work and classes in the afternoon, they need to learn to reduce post-meal sleepiness.

Based on the reasons that cause drowsiness after meals mentioned above, we can reversely infer ways to reduce drowsiness.

>>>>Reduce food intake: Most people eat more for lunch to replenish energy, but this also greatly increases the burden on the stomach. Therefore, eating until 70% full not only reduces the burden on the stomach, but also reduces sleepiness. If you tend to feel hungry in the afternoon, you might as well prepare some snacks as afternoon tea.

>>>>Light diet: Heavy-tasting diets are generally high-fat, high-carb foods. In order to reduce post-meal drowsiness, you can choose low-GI foods such as coarse grains and whole grains, increase the proportion of protein, eat more vegetables, and use less oil and salt in cooking.

>>>> Drink coffee after meals: It is difficult for most people to change their eating habits, but you can use something to refresh yourself. For example, make a cup of coffee or tea after a meal. Caffeine can drive away sleepiness and restore energy. Taking a nap immediately after drinking it will have a better refreshing effect. However, whether this method is effective depends on your personal constitution and should not be chosen blindly.

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>>>>Nap: Taking a nap after a meal is a basic habit of Chinese people. However, the longer the nap is, the more energetic you will be when you wake up. The best nap is 10-20 minutes, which can effectively regulate the spirit.

In general, in addition to the postprandial hypotension that the elderly need to pay attention to, drowsiness after a meal is a normal reaction. The editor still recommends that you adjust your eating habits, which can not only maintain your working state in the afternoon, but also be good for your health. Work is already very hard, so drink less bitter coffee.