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Thanksgiving Bird Gives Sleep Lovers A Chemical Excuse

by Meredith Roberts
11/19/2007

It seems that every November, before people even have the chance to throw out their jack-o-lanterns, Thanksgiving explodes on America.

It is as if an orange smoke covers the continent, seeking out every news publication or magazine, begging for someone to write one more article on how to baste your turkey or build the perfect centerpiece.

But there is something that happens every year that many publications fail to address: how to keep your guests from falling asleep.

Thanksgiving is a day that gives dads nationwide a real excuse not to do the dishes. Before the family patriarch can stand up to loosen his belt a notch, he has passed out in the recliner in front Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving.

There has been considerable debate about whether or not the sleepiness we experience after eating has anything to do with turkey. It could be the revenge of the stuffed bird, which prevents us from doing anything productive for the rest of the day. The bird that makes us beg our family members to convert Thanksgiving into a casual-attire affair – and by casual, we mean pajamas.

The amino acid in question is called Tryptophan. The presence of Tryptophan in the body leads to the production of the B-Vitamin Niacin, and in turn Serotonin. It is Serotonin that works as a calming agent and aids in sleep.

Numerous findings have said that Tryptophan only works as a sleeping agent if it is taken on an empty stomach. Which is strange, because if you eat turkey/ingest Tryptophan, your stomach is no longer empty.

Yet Tryptophan works remarkably well when combined with carbohydrates. In the presence of carbs, Tryptophan concentrates in the blood stream because carbs lead to insulin production. This causes the other amino acids which would compete with Tryptophan to concentrate in muscles, not the blood stream. Not to mention meals with high fat concentrations have slower digestion processes than their fat free counterparts.

So the debate continues on whether or not the bird can be blamed for sleepiness, or if drowsiness is just a general side effect of eating massive amounts of carb-ridden mashed potatoes or pie crust made almost entirely from Crisco.

Despite the reports that denounce turkey as a sleep-inducer, it seems Americans embrace Tryptophan as an excuse to snore loudly in the family room on one of the few days of the year where there are few obligations - besides wondering why we have not embraced the trend of elastic waistband pants, if for nothing more than to eat another helping of pecan pie.