{"id":50997,"date":"2025-08-07T02:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T02:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/50997\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T02:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T02:41:11","slug":"why-do-i-feel-so-sleepy-after-eating-and-how-can-i-boost-my-energy-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/50997\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do I Feel So Sleepy After Eating\u2014and How Can I Boost My Energy Instead?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the dreaded post-lunch food coma strikes, it can be a complete day-ruiner, throwing off your plans, making it hard to enjoy fun activities, and maybe even messing with your job. If the fatigue<\/a> descends as you\u2019re trying to knock out important tasks at the office, for example, your efficiency can take a serious hit. In turn, this can hurt your ability to stay on track, forcing you to play catch-up later and potentially creating a vicious cycle that will keep you tired long-term.<\/p>\n

The long and short of it? \u201cAfternoon drowsiness can disrupt a person\u2019s daily routine by reducing productivity, alertness, and concentration, as well as performance, mood, and quality of life,\u201d Meredith Liss, RD, CDN<\/a>, an advanced clinical dietitian at NewYork-Presbyterian\/Weill Cornell Medical Center, tells SELF.<\/p>\n

To be clear, not everyone will feel sleepy after eating, nor will every meal affect you the same way. Still, enough people experience this issue that it\u2019s considered a common complaint. (And it even has a formal name: postprandial somnolence.) So what\u2019s behind this widespread phenomenon, and what can you do to power through it if you\u2019re one of the (un)lucky few? We dug deep into the science to tease out some potential solutions.<\/p>\n

Why do we experience \u201cfood comas\u201d?<\/p>\n

There are a few things at play here, but what you\u2019re eating\u2014in particular, the macronutrient composition of your meal\u2014is a big one, Lisa Ganjhu, DO<\/a>, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Health, tells SELF.<\/p>\n

Meals heavily weighted toward carbs<\/a> (especially refined options<\/a>, like pizza, white bread, potato chips, or sugary stuff) are more likely to cause fatigue because they produce a rapid spike in blood sugar. Your body then releases a rush of insulin to bring those sugar levels back down. However, this rapid drop can trigger a chain reaction that brings about a sensation of sleepiness or sluggishness. What\u2019s more, a few other nutrients can have a similar effect. Foods high in the amino acid tryptophan (like milk, turkey, chicken, lobster, and certain types of nuts) can also increase lethargy, according to Dr. Ganjhu.<\/p>\n

In addition to the nutrient content of your meal, the size matters too. \u201cThe more we eat, the more is required of our digestive system due to the need for additional mechanical breakdown, chemical breakdown, absorption, transport, and storage,\u201d Liss says. This means that a large volume of food can put so much strain on your digestive system that it diverts energy away from other parts of your body. With all your available energy going to support the digestive response<\/a>, you might \u201cget very drowsy,\u201d Dr. Ganjhu says.<\/p>\n

Finally, frequency plays a role as well. By circumventing extreme highs and lows, \u201ceating at regular intervals helps maintain stable blood sugar levels, which equates to stable energy levels,\u201d Liss says. That\u2019s why skipping meals, eating at irregular times, or waiting too long between meals can have the opposite effect: causing energy dips. Hello, mid-afternoon crash.<\/p>\n

How can you avoid an energy slump after eating?<\/p>\n

Here are some things to keep in mind at mealtime (and beyond) that can help keep your energy levels up.<\/p>\n

1. Shoot for a balance of macros in your meal.<\/p>\n

Since overloading on carbs can make a food coma more likely, packing your plate with protein<\/a> and healthy fats<\/a> alongside can help. This slows down your digestion, which \u201cdelays glucose absorption, resulting in a more gradual rise in blood sugar and more stable energy levels,\u201d Liss explains. (Fiber, a specific type of carb, has a similar effect, so including that<\/a> can be beneficial as well.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the dreaded post-lunch food coma strikes, it can be a complete day-ruiner, throwing off your plans, making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[49,48,34743,2771,11480,84,395],"class_list":{"0":"post-50997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-carbohydrates","11":"tag-diet","12":"tag-fatigue","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}