Know The Reasons Behind Feeling Sleepy After Lunch

Feeling sleepy or lethargic after lunch could be often faced by you, like many others. You might notice many people around you yawning or taking a short nap after lunch even at the office. Sometimes we feel that all the energy has drained out from our body and it’s hard to resist the feeling of falling asleep.

But, have you thought about why we feel sleepy after our lunch? In an interview with News18, Preeti Pandey, a senior dietician at Apollomedics Super Speciality Hospitals, Lucknow, provided some detailed insight about this condition many of us face often.

According to Pandey, feeling sleepy, sluggish, and weak after lunch is not normal. The condition is known as food coma. She further added that there is no concrete reason behind this condition and people often ignore this as post-meal sleepiness.

However, there might be some serious causes that should not be ignored.

Let us today look at some reasons for feeling sleepy in the afternoon.

1. Reduced Blood Circulation to the Brain: According to the dietician, we should consume lighter means during the afternoon. Eating a wholesome meal requires more energy for digestion and the digestive system requires more blood to digest the food. After lunch, the blood circulation to the brain decreases. This is the reason we feel sluggish and sleepy after lunch.

2. Blood Sugar Level decreases rapidly: The dietician further stated that our body needs energy to function which we get from the timely meals we consume such as Breakfast, lunch and dinner. The nutrition present in the food we consume is the primary source of our body’s energy. Soon after the consumption of food, the digestion process causes a significant drop in the blood sugar level. This phenomenon leads to drowsiness and sleepiness.

What to eat in order to avoid feeling sleepy and lethargic?

According to experts, people who skip breakfast and directly have lunch are more likely to experience this condition. Such people often have the habit of consuming a heavy lunch in order to compensate for the missed breakfast. This habit leads to increased drowsiness. It is better to have whole grain products, oats, brown bread, eggs, omelettes, and fruits for breakfast which will help you stay healthy. It is also very important to drink an adequate amount of water to stay energetic and hydrated. This will help you to get rid of feeling lethargic after having food.