People are always talking about how turkey comas or post-Thanksgiving meal naps, and only recently did I hear that it was somewhat common knowledge that it’s the turkey that specifically makes you tired. I had always assumed it was just due to the sheer amount of food you’re consuming at Thanksgiving dinner that made you sleepy later that evening. So, of course, I questioned this idea that turkey is actually making us tired. If turkey has something weird in it that’s affecting our level of sleepiness, why would we continue to eat it?
This can’t be a situation of reverse causation- the time frame rules out that your tiredness could cause you to eat more turkey, since you’re getting tired after you eat the turkey. There’s also always the possibility of chance. And of course, maybe I should be listening to everyone else talking about this turkey tiredness because they could all be correct, but I went into the research for this blog post with a sneaking suspicion that it was due to a third confounding variable. So, let me tell you what I now know, and what you should pass on to your uncle who won’t stop making excuses for why he has to nap on your couch after dinner.
The reason people have it in their minds that turkey has us all napping after Thanksgiving dinner is that turkey has an amino acid in it called tryptophan. Within the body, tryptophan is used to make the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has connections to our sleep. If this amino acid was by itself in our foods, it could make us more tired, but, it’s never on its own and therefore is not going to increase your serotonin. There’s this idea that turkey has more tryptophan in it than other foods that you eat on more of a daily basis, but that isn’t true. In fact, some nuts and cheeses are filled with more tryptophan than turkey. All poultry has this amino acid at just about the same amount as turkey and, according to a professor from Texas A&M University, you can find tryptophan in pretty much every protein.
So if turkey isn’t making us tired, why do so many people feel the need to nap after dinner? LiveScience mentions that some experts in this field say that it’s more likely because of the amount of carbohydrates you’re eating and alcohol you’re drinking. Maybe next year at Thanksgiving, consider going easy on the cheese plate, mashed potatoes, and champagne if you don’t want to sleep after your meal, and stop blaming turkey and tryptophan for how carbs and alcohol are making you feel!
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Being that Thanksgiving was just last week, I enjoyed how your post was not only relevant and timely but it also brought up a good question, is the thanksgiving turkey actually making us tired? Unlike yourself I actually learned a few years ago in a 10th grade cooking class that tryptophan is the amino acid in turkey capable of making people sleepy, however, I never questioned this when my teacher told the class. After reading your post and doing some critical thinking on the subject, I agree with your conclusion and find it unlikely that the tryptophan in turkey is the absolute biggest reason for people feeling tired after Thanksgiving dinner. Why do I feel this way? First of all, in both firsthand experience and in talking with others about there experiences I’ve noticed that feeling tired as a result of eating turkey only seems to be something mentioned at thanksgiving time. For the other 364 days of the year, I’ve never heard anyone claim to feel tired because they had turkey for their most recent meal. In addition and like you mentioned, there are foods that people consume seemingly daily that contain higher levels of tryptophan than a turkey does, yet no one claims to be tired after eating these foods. In the end, I chalk feeling tired after Thanksgiving dinner up to sheer amount of food/alcohol consumed and an overall level of relaxation more so than high levels of tryptophan.
May I say that your blog post was very insightful. I definitely learned something new today. I was just talking about this the other day while I heated up some thanks giving leftover. I was try to give some to my girlfriend and she didn’t want any because she had heard that eating turkey makes you sleepy. I told her that that’s not true (But I guess she knew what she was talking about). So You’re telling me that turkey contains an amino acid that makes neurotransmitter serotonin, and has a correlation with sleep. Wow! wouldn’t of expected that.
Fun post. It is sometimes interesting to see where these things come from they do show up from time to time. I couldn’t even find a story on the origins of the myth. One personal hypothesis of mine is that someone, somewhere, noticed people sleeping on Thanksgiving and attributing it to the most common food eaten on said holiday without any study or evidence. I attributed my coma state to all of the wine that i consumed paired with the food I ate, especially the heavy ones like potatoes. Here is a video of everybody’s favorite nerds, the Myth Busters, disbanding the myth. http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/trypping-out/
Fun post. It is sometimes interesting to see where these things come from they do show up from time to time. I couldn’t even find a story on the origins of the myth. One personal hypothesis of mine is that someone, somewhere, noticed people sleeping on Thanksgiving and attributing it to the most common food eaten on said holiday without any study or evidence. I attributed my coma state to all of the wine that iIconsumed paired with the food I ate, especially the heavy ones like potatoes. Here is a video of everybody’s favorite nerds, the Myth Busters, disbanding the myth. http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/trypping-out/
Katherine, this post really made sense and go possibly debunk the myth that turkey on thanksgiving makes you tired. It makes a lot of sense because your point that a lot of poultry has the same amount of amino acid as turkey. I found a list of other foods that are considered to make someone feel tired. Check them out. Maybe there is an underlying solution that could prove the myth holds truth!
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/g796/sleep-inducing-foods/?