Manage Your Post-Lunch Sleepiness With These 7 Useful Tips

You’ve just finished your lunch. You are about to resume your work, but you just can’t concentrate. Your eyes droop and you feel lazy and sleepy. All you can imagine is a bed where you can lie down peacefully and doze off. Does this scenario sound far too familiar? Don't worry, you are not alone. Feeling drowsy after you eat, especially after lunch, is a common experience. Daytime sleepiness can be frustrating as it makes us feel lethargic and affects our productiveness during the middle of the day. 

 

But what is the reason that we get sleepy after lunch?

Well, our pancreas produces insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. A heavy meal leads to a higher production of insulin which spikes our blood sugar levels. An increase in insulin results in more sleep hormones being produced by our body, which eventually get converted into serotonin (the key hormone that stabilizes our mood) and melatonin (a hormone that is produced in response to darkness) in our brain. This can ultimately induce sleepiness. 

 

Furthermore, the number of carbohydrates we eat at lunch can also affect how sluggish we feel afterward. For instance, carbohydrate-containing foods like bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes stimulate the production of serotonin, which can also cause us to feel sleepy. 

 

Other factors that might contribute to your daytime sleepiness are irregular sleeping patterns at night or reduced amounts of physical activity. However, you can certainly manage your post-lunch sluggishness by changing a few day-to-day habits. Here are some effective tips that will help you control your drowsiness during the day. 

 

 

1. Don’t sit. Take a walk.

If you tend to feel drowsy after lunch, then don’t sit back down and try to resume your work right after your meal. Take a short break of 10-15 minutes and go for a brisk walk on your premises. If that’s not an ideal option during the daytime, you can even climb up and down the steps for a few minutes. 

 

This short exercise will help increase the oxygen levels in your bloodstream and give you a much-needed boost of energy. Furthermore, a 10-minute walk also helps promote blood circulation around the body and the brain and thus reduces the risk of your post-meal slump.

2. Eat smaller meals throughout the day

Eating smaller, more frequent meals across the day is another great way to fight off sleepiness after lunch. Firstly, it slows down digestion and can help keep your blood sugar levels steady as you will be hungry more often. Moreover, a large meal requires more energy to digest and can easily lead to sluggishness by slowing down digestion. Having a small lunch with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks in between will not only prevent you from feeling tired, but also from feeling bloated and uncomfortable, which can often happen after you have a heavy meal.

 

3. Keep drinking water

Are you drinking sufficient water throughout the day? During the winters, especially, we don’t feel that thirsty and our water intake goes down considerably. This can lead to dehydration which, in turn, can cause fatigue, low mood, and low energy levels, as well as affect your ability to think. This is why you must keep yourself hydrated throughout the day.

 

Drinking 8-10 glasses of water daily should help you remain fresh and recharged. It will also ensure that your post-lunch slump remains in check because drinking enough water has been proven to help perk you up if you're feeling sluggish.

4. Say no to junk food

Avoid having foods that are rich in bad fats or high in sugar as they can increase sleepiness. That’s because they cause a short-lived but sharp spike in your blood glucose levels which drop sharply later, resulting in drowsiness. 

 

You should try and have a lunch that’s rich in green vegetables as that can keep you more energized throughout the day. Natural foods that are high in fiber and protein like whole grains, legumes, and nuts, would also be helpful. Ideally, half your lunch plate should be full of non-starchy vegetables (broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, mushroom, etc.) and the remaining half should have whole grains (brown rice, millet, mushroom, etc.) or lean meat (beef, lamb, veal, pork, etc.). These can provide you with sufficient energizing irons, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates to make you remain alert and active throughout the day. 

 

 

5. Pop some chewing gum

Chewing may help reduce tiredness and ensure increased alertness, according to a study published in the journal Physiology and Behaviour. So, popping a couple of chewing gums after lunch might not be a bad idea to keep yourself sharp. When you are chewing gum, your body feels like you are constantly in action. This helps you maintain energy levels and also makes you regain them if you lose them after having a daytime meal. 

 

Of course, you need to have chewing gums in moderation as going overboard with them may reverse the effects. Chewing on a mint-flavored gum will be the best, primarily because of its refreshing taste. 

 

 

6.Don't skip breakfast

 

You’ve probably heard many times that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That is not a myth. A healthy breakfast kick-starts your metabolism and helps you burn harmful calories all day long. Also, having a filling breakfast can provide you with enough energy to remain active and focused for long periods of time. Health experts also say that eating a proper breakfast can also help reduce tiredness later in the day. 

 

When we wake up, the blood sugar level our body needs to function properly usually remains low. If our body doesn’t get the required fuel at the start of the day, we are more than likely to feel drained of energy by lunchtime. Hence, you must never skip breakfast as it sets the energy standard for the rest of the day. Moreover, skipping breakfast would make you hungrier by lunchtime and you are likely to end up overeating which, as we mentioned, contributes to the sluggish feeling. 

 

 

7. Spend some time in natural light

Are you surrounded by dim lighting during the day time? That might be one of the factors making you feel sleepy after lunch. When the light is dim, the body starts producing the sleep hormone melatonin which causes you to feel more tired. Spending some time in bright natural light during the daytime could make you feel more alert. Natural light is also known to stimulate brain regions that regulate mood. Thus, try and get some natural light during the first half of the day whenever you can to keep yourself awake post-lunch.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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6 Ways to Feel Better After Overeating

Whenever there is a party or a festival, when we meet our friends and relatives, a big feast is spread out and invariably in such social circumstances, seeing so many goodies, we all tend to over eat, as we keep talking, so we forget the quantity. When we tend to overeat, it does cause indigestion, bloating, heartburn and at times nausea. But there are ways to overcome the same.

According to the USDA dietary guidelines, the recommended daily amount of calories is about 2,000 for women and about 2,600 for men – referring to individuals of both sexes who lead moderately active lifestyles. Exceeding these boundaries occasionally is not a reason for concern, according to dietitians. 

 1. Don’t Stress Too Much
Some of us have a tendency to feel very guilty and beat ourselves up after eating a larger-than-usual meal. If it’s a rare occurrence, it won’t cause you to gain weight or any other long term consequences. Associating guilt with food, however, may lead to unhealthy eating patterns over time. Instead of stressing over what cannot be undone, plan what you’re going to do to better your feeling in the days that follow.

2. Don’t Lie Down
A big meal often makes us feel tired and sleepy. It’s best if you try and resist the urge to take a nap. Lying down makes it more likely that you experience acid reflux, as it puts pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), which is the muscle responsible for preventing stomach acids from going back up. Moreover, even doing a small task while standing upright, like doing the dishes, may help burn some calories.

3. Stay Hydrated – But Be Cautious! 
What causes the feeling of being bloated after a big meal is the intake of sodium. Drinking water may help flush out some of the excess salt from the food you consumed, but remember – small sips are the keywords. Limit yourself to about 8 ounces (one cup) of water after a meal, and drink it slowly and moderately. Continue to sip throughout the day. If you chug a large amount of liquids, it can expand your stomach even further and give you a stomachache.

4. Avoid Fizzy Drinks
When drinking carbonated drinks, you swallow gas, which can fill up the digestive system. Your system is already strained with the burden of the meal, so until that excess gas is released, it will only worsen the ‘heaviness’ that you’re feeling. In 2017, researchers found that sugar-sweetened drinks decrease fat oxidation, and thus, the body stores more fat, especially if you drink them with or right after high-protein meals.  

5. Take a Walk​
It may not help you feel less bloated and full, but walking can help the stomach empty more quickly, according to studies. A walk that is at least 10 minutes long can aid digestion, as well as balance blood sugar. When blood sugar spikes, which is likely to happen after a rich meal, a hormone called insulin is released. Insulin removes excess sugar from the bloodstream in two ways – it can either be burned as fuel or stored as fat. Balancing the blood sugar by walking can help you avoid storing a lot of extra fat.

6. Plan Next Meal
Once we've eaten in excess, without fretting, one can easily plan the next meal, which is light, but at the same time healthy. You can even make just one dish, which has carbs, proteins, vitamins, fibers. Such a meal is vegetarian biryani ( you can see the recipe in my recipe blog), vegetable pulao or vegetable kichdi/ pongal. As you can incorporate a lot of veges, dals, nuts, best is to have a raita, i.e., a dish made with curd to which you can add cucumber / tomatoes / onion or all combined finely chopped and seasoned to taste, makes a complete meal.
for such healthy recipes, feel free to view my recipe blog

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement