Simply feeling tired after eating isn't usually a sign of diabetes (or other medical conditions), Heidi Quinn, RDN , a certified diabetes educator at Harvard's Joslin Diabetes Center, tells LIVESTRONG.com 2 . For many people, feeling tired after eating, especially after they get their lunch, could be very disturbing since it will affect your productivity throughout the day. Everyone feels tired now and then. Other reasons for feeling tired after eating might be related to food allergies or intolerances, which are usually associated with digestive problems such as bloating, indigestion, wind, constipation or diarrhoea. If you feel sleepy after eating, particularly after sweet or bakery products, you are normal. If someone with prediabetes or Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes feels tired after eating, it could be a symptom of hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. The increased problem of falling asleep can also be due to imbalance of electrolytes, allergic reaction or lack of sleep at night. Conditions that can make post-meal drowsiness worse include: If you’re frequently tired and have one of these conditions, talk to your doctor about possible solutions. Read more about iron deficiency anaemia. You just feel tired because of your body reacts to the food that you already just ate. Particularly large meals take time to digest, meaning blood may be diverted away from other body areas to help with this. Among the reasons you feel tired after eating could be the amounts of sugar you consume. Fatigue can result from many conditions — such as fibromyalgia or sleep apnea — or lifestyle factors — such as alcohol use or medication side effects. You may be able to draw some connections between your diet and how you feel, either on your own or with the help of a healthcare professional. The other hormone that induces sleep, melatonin, isn’t released in response to eating. If you have ever had a meal or snack that was heavy on carbs, only to find yourself "crashing" a little later and feeling more tired than before you had the snack, you're far from alone. Or it could be that you simply no longer need to eat so often. Have you ever felt so drowsy and tired after eating? Avoiding too much sugar and eating smaller, more frequent meals can also help. Normal Body Temperature. The USDA nutrient lists also show that tryptophan amounts for certain foods can vary depending on how they’re prepared or cooked. Body temperature naturally varies slightly after eating or drinking, depending on the type and temperature of food. Last medically reviewed on April 19, 2018, Tryptophan is a naturally-occurring amino acid found in many foods. In the United States, tryptophan is perhaps more closely associated with turkey than any other food. Also, spicy food will metabolize a chemical called capsaicin, which will make you feel tired. In other words, it’s completely normal. It could be due to diabetes, especially when diabetes damages your kidneys and causes a condition called diabetic nephropathy. If you are experiencing low energy or are sleepy after eating — and you’re eating a whole foods Paleo diet — you may be eating out of line with your unique metabolic type. An imbalance of serotonin can make the body seem worn out and sleepy after eating sweets. Also take notes on how you feel. Your body needs energy to function—not just to run after your dog or put in time at the gym—but to breathe and simply exist. For instance, you may experience chills after eating due to malnutrition, anemia, diabetes, anorexia, and immune deficiencies like AIDS and lupus. The tiredness because over-stressed can cause an “energy draining”, which will make you become more tired than before. Gradually, as the body begins to shut down, it can’t digest food. If the fatigue after eating is accompanied by other symptoms like heart palpitations, nervousness, dizziness, light-headedness, headaches, sweating, insomnia and panic attacks, you could be suffering from reactive hypoglycemia. When your blood sugar doesn’t store as glycogen or transformed as glucose, of course your blood sugar level will increase suddenly, which will lead to headache,  dizziness, and fatigue. "Eggs are perfect because they are … All of the life has been drained out of you. Here are some explanations on why feeling tired after having a meal is a normal condition. In particular, some believe that there is a significant shift in blood flow from the brain to the stomach or gastrointestinal tract to aid in digestion. For an adult weighing 150 pounds (68 kg), that translates to about 340 mg (or 0.34 g) per day. It's not uncommon to feel a little chilly after eating or drinking cold foods, but severe chills including shivering whenever you eat could indicate an underlying medical condition that needs a doctor’s attention. If you find you’re feeling tired after meals, consider keeping a food diary. After a long day of being high, continuously smoking, eating, and basically doing nothing valuable with your waking hours, you start to get extremely sleepy. So hot it's like a fever and you can feel the heat radiating out of the top of my head! 8 Causes of Tired After Eating (No.6-8 Deadly), Pass quality checked by advisor, read our quality control guidelance for more info, 10 Health Benefits of Turmeric for Diabetes (No. I regularly see patients who faint within an hour or two of after they eat. Meanwhile, you can prevent and reduce the feeling of tiredness and sleepiness by consuming healthy food with smaller portions, alongside apply the tips that we already provided above. Falling asleep and tired after eating (usually in 20-60 minutes after eating) are frequent signs of this biochemical shock. They should be treated immediately as directed by your doctor. On rare occasions, being tired after a meal or simply sleepy all the time could be a sign of another health problem. It's possible to have too much iron, which can also cause tiredness, when it's known as iron-overload disorder (haemochromatosis). In this article, you will find the causes on why you feel so tired after eating. Why do people need napping after larger meals even for 20-30 min or more? It’s made worse if there’s inefficient or insufficient insulin to transport sugars to the cells for energy. Instead, being active helps ensure that you have the energy to push through your days. First of all you need to evaluate your eating habits, either you frequently like to eat food on a higher portion or in a lower portion. All rights reserved. This is another reason behind tiredness after eating sugar. To really discover what that is, I would suggest looking up Dr. Kelley’s work with metabolic typing. What are the causes and mechanism? There are several factors that contribute to this post-meal phenomenon, and there are a few things you might be able to do to minimize those drowsy effects. We use the Latin-derived term “postprandial somnolence” (which just means “feeling sleepy after eating”) to describe this common situation. Although this sounds plausible, it doesn’t really make that much sense. Here’s a clue: what you eat is just as important as the size of your meal. Feeling tired after eating can be perfectly normal if you've had certain foods or had a big meal. Update: i know what happens , i wanna know the name. When food is still present in the stomach and the person overeats, overeating produces a biochemical shock on the whole organism due to factors related to heavy breathing. Gluten intolerance is fairly common and can cause widespread symptoms, some of which are not related to digestion. Riding on a blood sugar roller coaster can drag you down. You Can't Get To Sleep At Night. However, if the symptom is disruptive or changing your lifestyle habits doesn’t seem to help, it might not hurt to talk to your doctor or to seek help from a dietitian. ** However, "overall fatigue" might be, she says. Cherries affect melatonin levels, carbohydrates cause a spike and subsequent fall in blood sugar, and the minerals in bananas relax your muscles. Biochemistry And Sleep. Healthline Media does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. What is a “Pain Cave” and How Do You Power Through It in a Workout or Race? We’ve all felt it — that drowsy feeling that sneaks in after a meal. A large portion of meals means that your body needs more energy to digest it. 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