Getting Sleepy After Eating

it is quitely normal, i feel it all the time:-)

Just because this happens to most everyone, does not make it normal.   A good meal should energize you.

The sleepiness is most often caused by a combination of carbo-crash and your immune system trying to deal with an

overabundance of cooked food.  Cooking (even steaming) destroys vitamins and warps proteins.

Half your meal (if not all) should be raw vegetables, nuts, seeds and/or fruit.  For lunch, try eating something like tomato slices,

carrot sticks, almonds and a ripe peach (with a liter of water) then see  how much your body loves you for it. 

 

Have read all the postings on here and yours is the most ACCURATE! The symptoms of eating and feeling tired does not have anything to do with what was eaten and how much; it has everything to do with the Adrenal Glands and Liver. The fatigue due to a Liver that is not metabolizing (either too fatty, toxic or both) well and Adrenal exhaustion. Your research is sound!

I too am a long time sufferer of this (since teenager), I am now in my mid-30s. After eating, about 30 minutes later, I feel drugged. The mind slows down, the vision goes blurry, sounds seem to fade into a monotonous drone.

I'm aware of my surroundings, and can even type on the computer, but its gibberish. Over the years i've managed to control myself and now I can look around and move and make it look that i'm working, but mentally I'm not there, I'm dreaming (yes even in that 5 minutes). My eyes are open, but my mind is sleeping. There was one time i was at my in-laws. After breakfast, crash, mid-morning tea,  crash , after lunch, crash , after tea, crash . Its okay to do this at home but not at work.

For all those who says its normal. Its NOT NORMAL. Please stop saying it is so, if you *truly* want to understand and want to experience this, go take a couple of sleeping pills then try your hardest to keep awake, its not about how tired you are, you just want to shut your eyes and go to sleep. Then we can all sit around and laugh at how lazy and weak you are. Thats how it will probably feel like. For all those saying that its normal after lunch, please, you're not suffering from this. 

Those other saying that you ate too much of this, too much of that, not enough of this not enough of that. Please, you're not listening. I once ate a small pack of peanuts. Bam! nap time. Another time, a small biscuit washed down with an expresso. Bam! nap time. The funniest, I had a mug of mocha, half an hour later, nap time! 

I've tried pure fruits, veggies, having enough sleep at night, vitamin pills, low carb, zero carb, pure protein. It just don't work. If i eat, i will crash. Especially during the day.  

It is a most helpless feeling, to know that you need to get up and move around but cannot. If i nap, 5 minutes to 15 minutes later I'm a-okay. After lunch same thing, tea time (one biscuit), same thing. Expressos don't have any effect either. Red Bulls (caffinated energy drink) don't do a thing either. 

The only success i found is to keep moving after eating, no its not exercising, but just standing, walking here and there at least within the next hour. If i sit down before that, i will nap and there's nothing i can do to stop it. 

unfortunately, I have just become another victim to this disorder. I have stopped eating during the day if I am at work, because if I eat anything I completely shut down. I have had a problem with vitamin B deficiancies in the past year, but my levels have stabilized. I have had stomach problems including a bacterial infection and a small hernia, both of which also has been taken care of, as was a large polyp taken of my colon. Since all of this was done my food now is breaking down quickly(past month) and I am being told I may be suffering from IBS. This new thing of almost passing out after I eat in the afternoon just started about 3 weeks ago, so back to the doctor I have to go. Does anyone else that has this disorder have any other stomach problems like I have had lately, or IBS, or a vitamin b deficiency?

I have suffered from this and it is extremely frustrating. It baffles doctor after doctor and you have to plan your life around every morsel of food you choose to ingest. I am thrilled to say that I have finally kicked this. After a year and a half of pulling my hair out over this, I opted to go on a clean diet because I thought it couldn't hurt. Fruits, veggies, and lean meats. That was pretty much it. That helped but didn't fix it. I went to the acupuncturist and had her work on my adrenals and liver. Then I found a recipe for some Chinese herbs for cleansing "sluggish liver". Again, I felt I had nothing to lose and I had tried 100 other things with no luck. I took Gentian Root in the liquid form (without a doubt the foulest thing I have ever tasted) and Bupleurum tablets three times a day for 2 months. Not kidding, I felt better after a week and 2 months later, I can eat like a normal human being again. No sleepiness at all! I mostly maintain my clean diet just because it is healthier but I am not afraid to go out to eat or splurge once in awhile anymore.

I am amazed that one response was that sleepiness after a meal was 'normal'. It was sad to read such an uninformed response. It is most definitely not normal if you have eaten a healthy meal composed of proper food combining. Heavy meals will put you to sleep, but that also makes it difficult to digest food - not to mention the weight gain.

 

I visited a holistic doctor who was able to run test and confirm that hormones were off; my cortisol was very high, so, like another respondent, I actually needed to work this daily sleepy time around my vechicle driving. Worse, I began getting sleepy everyday around the same time even when I hadn't just eaten. There was hormone therapy to correct this. He explained that much of it had to do with the adrenals, endocrine system and the pituatary gland in the brain.

I have the same problem.  When im at school or anywhere else I find my self falling into a deep sleep for almost an hour and when I'm not asleep its hard for me to pay any attention in my classes.  I tried to skip lunch so i can get through the day.  It works but you feel extreamly hungry in the middle of the night and you lose more sleep and the next day and you feel worse than when you do eat during the day. I tried google and they say that I need to get my blood checked by a doctor or to drink alot more and eat more fruits. The safest bet is to talk to the doctor...it might be worse than you think.

93 year old woman, in great shape and health.  Still drives, cooks, washes windows, rakes leaves etc.  Suddenly started following asleep immediately after eating meal.  Doesn't matter if it is large or small or what it is.  Went to doctor and had blood tests performed.  All test came back negative.
What else could be the problem?  I am thinking her heart, but doctor did not say anything like that.

I am also interested in this topic -because I think some of you are missing the point, it is not just a feeling of sleepyness after a big rich xmas dinner as such it is after every meal for me and it is debilitating in that I will go to sleep wether I want to or not, I can not have a meal before lectures or study or driving more than 5 min. I dont think it is normal for your body to just shut down, even tho I get regular sleep of a night time.  Just sayin!

 

Just feed your cat or dog and then keep them in the warm and watch them - they almost always settle down and go to sleep! We are all mammals and this is a natural feeling made better, or worse, by what you have consumed and how much of it you've had (and possibly how warm and comfortable you are) - so I wouldn't worry about it.

I found you after googling "excessive sleeping after a light meal".  There you go.  Artichoke hearts and black olives in a bowl.  That's it.  Then, lights out for two hours.  Or, a simple one slice piece of toast.  Or oatmeal.  Or a wedge salad with spritz dressing.  It's just not normal.  NOT

This sleepiness is not Normal, otherwise I would have had it for the first 45 years of my life. If is a comparatively recent development. I have had and done every test my doctors can think of, and everything's supposedly "fine". The advice to move directly after eating/drinking has helped. I now force myself to walk around until the sleepiness starts to pass, and a flight of stairs as fast as possible is a real quick fix. However I now find the sleepiness does seem to come back strongly again about an hour or so later, even without eating.

try a highly digestible source of VB12!

I also find my eyes shut after a small meal i have gluten intolerance and once had IBS - i know my belly is weak.

I have been experimenting with Kundalini yoga as this exercises the stomach very well with breath of fire.
If you feel tired get up and go do a sat kria! a gentle one after food* see how u feel?
do more exercise - see how u feel?
talk to someone - see how u feel?

The most important factors that i feel contribute to this feeling are:
Regular Exercise 
Glycemic index of the food you ate
Hours of sunlight - without the sun we want to sleep
Temperature - being warm after food must mean your burning off energy (blood sugars) or experiencing toxic removal
Diet - of course

Questions:
I want to ask everyone - what time of year this happened most?
When your sad or happy or experienced any stress (this piles on toxins and acids)
When your sitting eating in front of a computer or not absorbing bad electricity?

Thoughts:
Now we know that greens and raw foods are hard to digest ... switching to these foods needs to be done for at LEAST 2 months so your body has time to adjust and to switch the way it digests and gets energy from food. These foods should be organic farmed and local so that you minimize any toxins from chemicals used on them. Supermarket foods are often starved of nutrients. However there are people out there who have had this problem for yrs without finding a solution! But you need to make digestion EASY for your to stomach ;) so that it takes no effort .... right?

Solutions:
We really need to replace ALL fats with OMEGA3 and OMEGA6 (like flax seed oil)
We really need to supplement our diets with easy foods like spirulina (highest nutrient packed food you can buy)
Herbs such as cinnamon will help you regulate bloody sugar as it mimics the effect of insulin - this will help 
A reader already posted his cure - Gentian Root
Tumeric is a good herb to also increase as well as ginger and perhaps even coca tea to aid digestions
Take a normal meal but add enzymes - supplemental
Eat little and often - build up your bodies ability to deal with having food in it all the time.
Drink carrot juice all day! a source of Beta-carotene and anti oxidants
Take CoQ10 this enzyme is especially for getting energy from food
Try to stay slightly alkaline instead of acid - find a chart with foods u should and shouldn't eat
Get a daylight frequency sunlamp

Not eating will only make the problem stick! don't do that! Eat but take a rest in your car if need be until your body rights it's self.

Most likely our bodies are full of c**p and need the sunlight exercise and good food to flush out all the c**p.
Also noting the planetary motions on your mood might be a good idea.
Avoiding bad lights at the 60Hz frequency and computer screens for at least an hour day
I found a product called a *** also that gives me less direct stress and a little more energy 

Additional: 
Don't just do one of things .... do them all! and do them for as long as you live, our bodies need time to adjust.
Life is changing all the time ... the earths magnetic field is weakening and becoming more random.
We need to pay more and more attention to health because of this.
Also being a vegetarian would be a good idea - we give away too much precious arable land to these animals we slaughter so nicely.
Meditation also helps us restore our polarity. 
Good luck to all of you - Let me know if this helps :)