Care For Your Sleep

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It is a very common syndrome to feel sleepy after eating. especially if we eat some really considerable amount of foods. Many people experience this, and for many it becomes a subject of curiosity. Why do we feel so sleepy after eating? Many would suppose that this condition is actually not normal. If we look at it, we can see that we should actually feel more alive, energetic and awake after having a meal as our body receives a new portion of energy and nutrients. Some funny people believe that after eating our body needs great amount of energy to digest the foods consumed, and that is why we tend to sleep after eating. Sounds excellent! Let’s examine the problem at a closer and more scientific look.

Did you notice that you feel more sleepy or less sleepy after eating certain foods? For example, most people report feeling especially sleepy after they eat sweet foods, bakery or heavy meals like read meat or poultry. However, if we eat fruit, veggies, salads, stews, seeds, fish, nuts and so on, we usually feel less sleepy or even do not feel sleepy at all.

It is quite easy to explain this phenomenon. When we eat sweet foods, our body starts very actively producing serotonin, a neurotransmitter which helps us fall asleep in a natural way, for example, every night. In addition, when we consume sweet foods or the ones rich in flour, our pancreas start producing more insulin, which is linked to increased amounts tryptophan in our blood. This element is easily converted to serotonin and causes sleepiness. The same effects (rise in tryptophan in our blood) takes place when we eat large amounts of turkey or red meat. That is why we have our best sleeps exactly after our annual Thanksgiving dinner, right?

There is another scientific theory which attempts to explain the phenomena why we usually feel so sleepy after eating meals. It is based on the idea that sleepy condition can be caused by incorrect food combining practice which we use. In particular, it is known that for digesting carbs and proteins we need different digestive enzymes: protease for proteins and lipase for carbs. Therefore, eating the foods rich in proteins and carbs in a combination causes certain conflict in digestive enzymes required for digestion, and as a result we start feeling drowsy. If you want to avoid feeling sleepy after eating and feel more energetic, learn more about correct ways to combine foods. For example, proteins should be combined with non-starch veggies, and carbs should be combined with fruits, grains, and so on.

Have you ever had serious problems with your biological clock when you travel from Europe to the States? Have you ever thought, how do the people who regularly have to travel between the continents, manage their sleep problems? This can be really hard, you know. To help those people, as well as everyone who needs to adjust his biological clock, a group of scientists at the University of California-San Diego in association with three other research organizations developed a new innovative substance which received a name “longdaysin”. It can be effectively used to prologue your biological day for as much as 10 hours.

On the initial stage of the studies, the scientists from Japan leaded by Tsuyoshi Hirota found out longdaysin compound during their genetic researches. In order to find possible clues to creating a cure for cancer, the scientists experimented with luciferase genes by attaching them to human cancer cells. The scientists noticed that these genes caused changes in circadian rhythms of cells, this way prolonging the period of cell activities. A genetic research robot analyzed more than 120,000 possible compositions of molecular compounds to find out which of them were able to change the circadian rhythms of the cells the most.

Then, the results of these experiments were sent to San Diego University, where American specialists continued lab trials and managed to receive isolated longdaysin. American scientists worked with the samples of larval zebra fish tissues and by changing the concentration of the substance the researchers managed to receive correspondent chronobiological effects on the living cells. Further, the experiments were carried on with various mouse tissues.

Steve Kay, one of the specialists from San Diego university says: “Theoretically, longdaysin or a compound like it could be used to correct sleep disorders such as the genetic disorder familial advanced sleep syndrome, which is characterized by a clock that’s running too fast.” The scientists plant to continue their work and formulate a special medication which will help people stay awake longer is they need that. It can be helpful not only for travelers, but for those people who work shifts. Read more about the findings of this interesting research in the December issue of PLoS Biology.