Thats a question someone asked me recently and yeah, this is especially true during bulan puasa where we fast all day and break with a heavy meal. So the question should actually be:

Why do we feel drowsy or sleepy after a LARGE meal!?

Lack of oxygen!

Its simple really. Eating a large meal makes your digestion system work overtime, this draws blood away from other areas, including your brain. Less blood flow reduces the amount of oxygen the brain gets. Hence you feel sleepy.

How to avoid getting sleepy after a meal?

Eat smaller portions. This not only avoids your digestion system from working overtime but also helps you avoid sugar crashes (energy crashes) and keeps your cravings in check. But during puasa or ramadhan, its probably unavoidable to feel mengantuk after a meal as its always a large meal ;)

….during puasa or ramadhan, its probably unavoidable to feel mengantuk after a meal as its always a large meal..

What is serotonin?

This is something I recently read about and find very interesting. Serotonin is a chemical that acts as a calming agent on the brain and plays an active role in sleep.

Some overweight people with low levels of serotonin feel almost compelled to eat more.

Some overweight people with low levels of serotonin feel almost compelled to eat more. Once they get their carbohydrate “fix”, serotonin levels rise and they feel better again, tetapi only untuk jangka masa pendek.

It might also interest you to know that nicotine increases serotonin levels. Nicotine withdrawal has the opposite effect. This is one reason why people who quit smoking find that they rapidly gain weight. They’re trying to get their serotonin “fix” from food instead of cigarettes.

So what about Serotonin and sleep?

When you eat a food high in carbohydrate, your body releases insulin. Insulin helps to clear the competing amino acids from your blood. However, insulin has no effect on tryptophan. Consequently, once insulin has cleared the competing amino acids from your blood, tryptophan is free to enter your brain. This raises serotonin and makes you sleepy (in theory la)

Tryptophan is an amino acid. Your body can’t make serotonin without the help of tryptophan. If you were to eat just tryptophan by itself, then it would enter the blood, flow into the brain, and raise serotonin levels.

The link between serotonin and sleep is one reason why some people feel tired after eating a high-carbohydrate meal. It also helps to explain why foods high in carbohydrate are often described as “comfort” food.

What about Red Wine?

Yup…not that I am a red wine drinker but wine is known to contain Melatoni which produces Tryptophan and we all know how that can raise our Serotonin levels.