Holidays, Turkey and Sleep: Fact vs Fiction!

Creeping up every so steadily on us is Holiday season: lots of family, food and an excessive need to sleep. It’s long been thought that the culprit for the sleepiness has been Turkey and all its tryptophans. We kinda feel sorry for the poor turkey and the bad rap he’s gotten along the way so we did some digging.

Turns out Turkey is not, in fact, the reason you feel so sleepy, but the real culprit is actually the large number of carbs (and copious amounts of alcohol) you’re consuming during Thanksgiving dinner. It’s true, we tend to overindulge at Thanksgiving with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and even yams covered in marshmallows. When was the last time your meal included no less than 3 different types of carbohydrates!?!

To take the point one step further, we found a great article from Live Science that explains:

The massive intake of carb-heavy calories stimulates the release of insulin, which in turn triggers the uptake of most amino acids from the blood into the muscles except for tryptophan.

With other amino acids swept out of the bloodstream, tryptophan — from turkey or ham or any meat or cheese, for that matter — can better make its way to the brain to produce serotonin. Without that insulin surge, tryptophan would have to compete with all the other kinds of amino acids in the big meal as they make their way to the brain via a common chemical transport route.

What tryptophan is 100% guilty of is all those vivid dreams you tend to have during your after Thanksgiving dinner nap. Speaking of naps, it will be important to get a few in before you start doing your Black Friday sale shopping! A good night’s rest on an organic mattress will ensure your dreams are full of visions of sugarplums dancing and definitely free from dangerous toxins, allergens and off-gases found in synthetic mattresses.

This Thanksgiving, be mindful of what is going on your plate, eat it all but maybe start with a small plate and see if you really need the second helping. Here are some easy tips to keeping it healthy this Thanksgiving:

Image via codyapp