Feeling Sleepy Post-Thanksgiving? Blame The Calories Not The Turkey!

Thanksgiving day always makes us happy as it’s a day of indulgence. People splurge on lavish feast on the day of Thanksgiving. Foods include turkey, pumpkin, fruit salads, muffins, cakes, cranberry sauce, etc.A well-known myth with Thanksgiving is the post-Thanksgiving meal nap and fatigue, which is attributed to the Turkey. Turkey is rich in tryptophan, an amino acid associated with the serotonin hormone that is responsible for sleep.

Though higher levels of tryptophan can increase drowsiness and induce sleep, the main reason for post-Thanksgiving meal nap is not exactly the turkey.

The average amount of calories consumed by a person on Thanksgiving day is around 4000-4500 calories. People consume higher amounts of carbohydrates than required. Therefore, the body takes a longer time to metabolize the consumed food which puts people in a drowsy state.

Nicolaas Deutz, a nutrition expert at Texas A&M, has reported that any meal rich in carbs will drain the body’s energy during metabolism and turkey has nothing to do with the post-Thanksgiving meal nap and fatigue.

Source-Medindia