On Thanksgiving, millions of Americans gather around the dinner table with their family and friends to give thanks and dig into a massive holiday feast. After eating a plate (or two) filled to the brim with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, bread, pie and more, many people are usually ready to take a much-needed post-meal nap.
Turkey is often blamed for the drowsiness that comes after indulging in such a large meal because it is packed with tryptophan, but the VERIFY team looked into whether eating turkey really makes people ready to nap or not.
THE QUESTION
Does eating turkey make you sleepy?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, eating turkey doesn’t make you sleepy.
WHAT WE FOUND
All of our sources say the claim that eating turkey makes you sleepy isn’t true.
Turkey is “rich in tryptophan,” an amino acid the body needs to produce serotonin, registered dietitian Molly Kimball explains in a blog post for Ochsner Health in Louisiana. Serotonin is used to make melatonin, a hormone that plays a role in sleep.
But “the amounts of these chemicals produced are so small, they’re not going to knock you over," according to a Penn State Health article.
Turkey doesn’t contain more tryptophan than other types of meat, either, the Penn State Health article says. In fact, common foods such as pork loin, roasted pumpkin seeds, part-skim mozzarella and chicken breast have more tryptophan ounce-for-ounce than turkey, Kimball wrote.
If tryptophan really caused drowsiness, people would feel groggy after eating “just about any protein,” University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) explains on its website.
Though turkey unfairly gets the blame for our post-Thanksgiving meal naps, Kimball and UPMC explain there are other culprits.
The first is overeating, UPMC says, adding that a 2018 study found “eating high-calorie meals tends to lead to fatigue afterward.” Kimball also attributes the Thanksgiving fatigue to “eating a large, rich meal” and drinking alcohol on top of it.
According to UPMC, the type of food we eat on Thanksgiving also contributes to sleepiness. Many popular Thanksgiving dishes are carbohydrates that rank highly on the glycemic index, the medical center says.
Foods that rank high on that index, such as potatoes, white bread and high-glucose foods like pie, will raise your blood sugar more. This can cause the release of insulin and trigger sleepiness, UPMC says.
To beat the drowsiness that comes with eating a lot of food on Thanksgiving, the Cleveland Clinic recommends that you:
- Eat smaller portions of the Thanksgiving meal
- Limit alcohol
- Slow down and stop eating once you're full
- Take a walk afterward to help digest your meal
