![]() ![]() So if I eat a steak or a great big burger-especially if I have a couple beers with it-I’m going to get sleepy. ![]() “Euphemistically, it’s called post-prandial depression,” Vrana said. So why do I get so groggy after Thanksgiving dinner? It’s also a component in some of the powders weightlifters use to build muscle. Even the pharmaceutical industry has on occasion bought in.ĭecades ago, drug makers started marketing super-high concentrated doses of tryptophan as a non-prescription pill to help people sleep. It’s a plot point in sitcoms and bandied about in dinner conversation. Still, over the decades the tryptophan turkey story has, like the dinner from which it derives, had legs. But the amounts of these chemicals produced are so small, they’re not going to knock you out. The scientific misunderstanding that led to the idea seems to come from tryptophan’s serotonin-melatonin-producing properties. In fact, there isn’t any more tryptophan in your Thanksgiving turkey than there is in a roast of wild boar ― even with stuffing and cranberry sauce. “All meats contain tryptophan,” Vrana said. And then an even smaller portion of that serotonin becomes converted to melatonin, which is a natural sleep aid. Tryptophan is a precursor to making serotonin, the brain’s feel-good hormone whose activity is modulated by many anti-depressants. Humans use a small amount of the tryptophan to make chemicals called neurotransmitters, which help the cells in their brain communicate with one another. “Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the tryptophan we take in is used to make the structures in our bodies,” Vrana said. Tryptophan is one of 20 amino acids, the chemicals the human body uses to make the proteins that are key to producing muscle. With tryptophan you’re more likely to wind up with big biceps than an urge to nap. Vesell professor and chair of pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine, who has been studying the chemical his entire career, says you’re just as likely to get sleepy from eating a cheeseburger as a plate of dark or white bird meat. Popular conjecture has it that turkey meat contains a high concentration of a naturally occurring chemical called tryptophan that causes you to sleep through much of the time you’re supposed to spend being thankful. What’s Making You Sleepy on Thanksgiving?Įvery year, millions of Americans enjoy their annual Thanksgiving feast, then sit back to watch a Detroit Lions NFL game or enjoy a lively political discussion with their families only to find they can’t keep their eyes open. ![]()
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