I just ate a whole 7 oz. bag of Good N’ Plenty’s. Before I go upstairs to take a nap, I was wondering whether there’s a simple, 25-words-or-less layman’s explanation for why eating large amounts of sugar makes you groggy, instead of wideawake.
Didn’t see anything in the thread archives concerning this, just “low blood sugar”, which I don’t think is the problem.
From Sugar
“It also calms adults, says Wurtman, who has studied the relationship between carbohydrate consumption and mood. When people report having a sugar high or jitters, Wurtman asks them what was happening before they took a mouthful of something sweet. “When people feel the need to eat,” she says, “They usually are jittery. But 20 minutes after eating, they are no longer jittery.” In fact, the opposite happens: After eating sugar, people become calm or even sleepy, she says, an effect caused by sugar raising the level of a calming brain chemical called serotonin. Sugar in its pure form is the best nonprescription antidepressant, she says.”
Low blood sugar (yep). Essentially, consuming sugar/other carbohydrates causes your blood sugar to spike. Your body then churns out the insulin to bring the blood sugar back down. Unfortunately, the process is never perfectly matched, and your body usually overproduces insulin, sending your blood sugar plummeting below where it was to begin with, making you feel tired (and, in some cases, hungry yet again).
Tryptophan. I read a brief abstract of a scientific study that suggested that tryptophan–more commonly recognized as the substance in turkey that contributes to Thanksgiving comas–is the culprit. But in this case, the tryptophan causing the drowsiness is CREATED by the body following high carb intake.