# Why is my heart rate faster after a full meal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-heart-rate-faster-after-a-full-meal/335810>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 15, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-heart-rate-faster-after-a-full-meal/335810 "2005-12-15T21:25:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-heart-rate-faster-after-a-full-meal/335810/1 "2005-12-15T21:25:48Z")

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I’ve noticed that if I eat an even slightly larger-than-usual lunch (i.e., a hamburger rather than my usual tuna sandwich or bowl of pho), my heart rate will be faster for an hour or so afterwards.

About 40 minutes ago, I finished a little Lebanese meat pie - sort of like a ground lamb quesadilla - and a couple of cookies for lunch. I just now timed my heartbeat, and it’s at 112 per minute, and has been so since shortly after I finished.

Does this happen to anyone else? Any idea why it’s happening?

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-heart-rate-faster-after-a-full-meal/335810/2 "2005-12-15T21:28:11Z")

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Eating a lot of calories, especially relatively available ones like in carbohydrates, increases your metabolic rate, including the heat energy you give off. I think your heart rate would have to go along with this.