Just out of curiousity I know it’s “normal” to get a little sleepy after eating during the day but is it normal to feel absolutely drop dead sleepy in the late afternoon (2-3 PM) after eating even a small lunch? I mean really fighting to keep your eyes open and sleeping for two hours or so if given the chance. I’m sure it’s related to blood sugar levels somehow and that everyone is different but is the absolute “knocked out” feeling within the bounds of normal reactions. This has been going on for over 10 + years now and has been an annoyance but it’s gotten especially intense lately.
Out of curiousity I had a friend who has diabetes test my blood sugar level in the morning with some sort of pin prick test and she said it was normal.
I’m interested too, astro, as I have the same problem. I’ve been assuming it means that I’m not getting enough sleep, but I’d sure be interested to know if it indicates some other problem.
And you’re right, this isn’t just a little grogginess after eating a big meal. I absolutely cannot keep my eyes open - I often skip lunch at work because I can’t stay awake afterwards. I’ve actually had to pull over when driving home from a restaurant to take a brief nap because I’m too sleepy to drive.
I have exactly the same problem. And it’s not just in the afternoon - if I eat something which raises my blood sugar quickly at any time I’ll be fighting sleep within half an hour. It’s supposedly caused by your body overeacting to the raised blood sugar and dropping it too low. Added to the normal 3 o’clock sleepiness which most people experience and it’s very hard to stay awake!
Two things you can can do are:
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avoid eating carbohydrates which raise your blood sugar quickly for lunch. These include bread, pasta and potatoes (don’t be fooled by the “complex carbs break down slowly, simple carbs break down fast” story. Potatoes spike your blood sugar faster than sugar does.) Carbs which don’t spike your blood sugar include apples, apricots, beans and pulses (yuck!) You can get more ideas from a “glycaemic index” table which compares various foods to glucose.
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This isn’t always convenient, but you can try about 20 minutes of hard aerobic exercise almost immediately after eating a small lunch. Works for me.
Again, folks, there is no pat answer to this question.
There are as many different metabolisms as there are people – no two are alike. Age, diet, physical activity, stress and many other elements add to or mitigate how tired you feel. Coffee, chocolate and other stimulants can cause a drastic drop off of their “awakening” effects as they are purged from the body.
Additionally, only the person experiencing the tiredness can quantify or measure how tired he or she is.
Significant changes in how tired you are could my a symptom of something else. Best bet is to hit up your family practitioner if your midday doldrums are affecting your daily routine.
The same thing happens to me sometimes, but it is usually only bad to that extent when I have not gotten proper sleep in the last day or two. I don’t necessarily have to feel sleepy before I eat, but if I have not slept properly, and then eat a decent sized meal… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This may be part of the reason that you are sleepy after lunch, or lethargic after any meal. When you eat your parasympathetic nervous system directs blood flow to the viscera and digestive tract. Provided that you don’t get rather physical for a while, a large proportion of your circulating volume will be engaged in processing the meal you have just eaten. Most of the blood vessels that supply the gut will be dilated to ensure adequate perfusion.
Consequently, your blood pressure will also be down somewhat, due to the dilated blood vessels. Blood pressure is a function of cardiac oputput versus vessel size.
This is the major reason why you shouldn’t engage in major exertion immediately after a meal. It is far easier to cramp up and do muscular damage, and if you’re swimming, run the risk of drowning.
It’s also the reason why fainting and cardiac-related chest pain often occur right after a large meal.
Therefore your lethargy after eating is your body’s way of telling you to take it easy for a while, until the important job of the early stages of digestion are finished.
“This may be part of the reason that you are sleepy after lunch, or lethargic after any meal. When you
eat your parasympathetic nervous system directs blood flow to the viscera and digestive tract.”
yeah, but that does not account for why we aren’t sleepy after eating in the morning or at dinner…there goes that old theory.
How many hours of sleep do you get at night? Do you still feel sleepy after lunch even if you’ve had at least 8 hours of sleep the night before? Does it help if you had 10? 12? How long does the sleepiness last? Have you tried taking a stroll outside and getting some fresh air and putting some cold water on your face to get over the drowsy feeling if it’s short?
If you feel your tiredness is really interfering, I would suggest going to a health professional to rule out diabetes. I know you said your friend checked your sugar and they said it was normal, but a diabetics normal is a little different than a nondiabetics normal. They are told to shoot for a sugar of less than 140 2 hours after meals. Nondiabetics should have a sugar of 70-126 2 hours after meals.
It might be possible that a meal of just carbohydrate at lunch could be contrib. to your tiredness, but a nondiabetic should be able to compensate for a meal of carbohydrate.
Also, consider your sleeping habits. Are you getting enough sleep? Your tiredness could be unrelated to food…
The first thing I would do would be to keep a record…of how many hours you slept, what you eat for lunch, and how you feel after lunch (maybe rate your tiredness on a scale of 1-10). Also, do you feel tired after your other meals? Write that down too. Maybe you’ll see a pattern going.
Maybe you wouldn’t get sleepy after eating if you didn’t always eat right after sex. Just settle for whatever libation you’ve been using and enjoy your nap.
Thanks, everyone - I can see where at least part of my problem comes from. I’m a big potato and bread eater. I have naturally low blood pressure (hovers around 100/80). I rarely get enough sleep. (SDMB addiction doesn’t help.) I suspect I am slightly hypoglycemic, also.
It’s not just lunch for me, although that is often the worst time. I’ve tried staying on my feet, working, etc. after eating, and sometimes that works. But sometimes I’m so groggy that I stagger around and can’t really function, and sometimes I just have to go to sleep.
Guess I’ll try changing my eating and sleeping habits a little and see if that helps.
You mean you’re able to eat after sex? I’m always too weak to move, and my knees won’t hold me up if I try to walk.
In Jamaica the term for this after-lunch sleepiness is “niggeritis.” And it is not considered to be insulting. The folks that use this term are black themselves, and the term “nigger” is not used in any other context that I ever heard there.
Jill
You should probably ask your doctor.
Now for my WAG: I recall from somewhere that everyone’s temperature drops slightly around 1 PM, producing a bit of drowsiness. This may be the basis for the custom of the siesta. Perhaps greater sleepiness at this hour is an extreme reaction to this cycle.
I once went through a period of increased sleepiness at that hour. At the time I disliked my job and was not going to bed early enough. I would nap in the employee lounge for 30-60 minutes. (This was my experience, YMMV.)
Dr. Rapp talks about sleepiness as a hidden symptom of food allergy. All of the non-traditional symptoms of food allergy are controversial, but she goes into a lot of details to tell the difference between a food reaction and hypoglycemia. You might pick up the book and see if it rings a bell. I don’t know how much information you can find on her web-site http://www.drrapp.com .
They did a study, most of the people were sleepy around 2 to 4pm in the afternoon. It’s just fine.
Apparently we can’t use quotation marks in a post subject?
The book is called “Is This Your Child?”