Gifts, holiday songs, festive decorations, and warm spiced wine are all wonderful aspects of the holiday season. However, is there anything more delightful about this time of year than the freedom to indulge in a peaceful nap? Imagine this scenario: you have a day off, just enjoyed a delicious meal with your loved ones, and everyone decides to retreat for a nap without any alarms or plans for the rest of the day. That’s the magic of the food coma experience.
Whether you savor the relaxation of a food-induced nap or not, you’re likely familiar with the phenomenon. It’s often used to explain that groggy feeling after a big meal — but is it genuinely a physiological response or merely a reluctance to move when feeling overly full? The food science and history podcast Gastropod recently delved into the intricate topic of food comas with hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, along with experts Subha Mani, Justine Hervé, and Nikolay Kukushkin, providing insights into this phenomenon.
So, what exactly is a food coma? It’s not a medical coma but rather referred to as “postprandial somnolence,” indicating a feeling of fatigue following a meal. As Nikolay Kukushkin describes it, a food coma is when an individual naturally slows down and relaxes after eating, essentially signaling the body to rest and digest. Justine Hervé further defines it by stating that it’s a decrease in alertness occurring within one to two hours after a meal.
But are food comas real or just a placebo effect? Through research involving over 4,000 students in India taking tests at different times post-meal, experts confirmed that a food coma isn’t just a notion but has a tangible impact on cognitive abilities. Results showed that students who took tests shortly after eating performed significantly worse, indicating a cognitive impairment of 5% to 9%. This reduction in performance wasn’t due to feeling sleepy, as students in the postprandial period completed tests with the same effort and speed as others.
In conclusion, a food coma is more than just feeling tired after a meal — it also leads to cognitive impairment. This research underscores the reality of food comas and the impact they have on cognitive functions.
An hour after their meal, they tried their best but just didn’t have the energy. However, it’s crucial to consider that the impact of a food coma on a child’s cognitive abilities may vary based on their economic circumstances. It’s plausible that children with limited access to an adequate food supply could experience more pronounced effects from a food coma. Conversely, according to insights shared by Hervé and Mani with Food & Wine, economic status might exacerbate a food coma as individuals with higher incomes can indulge in larger and more lavish meals. On the flip side, heightened awareness about food comas among wealthier households may lead to proactive measures such as consuming smaller portions or having coffee or tea to counteract its effects.
Nevertheless, taking a break before tackling a test or delivering a significant presentation at work might be a wise precaution.
What triggers a food coma? The simple answer is that there isn’t a definitive explanation as of yet. Various theories have been proposed over time. Previously, it was thought that food comas stemmed from increased blood flow to the digestive system post-meal, potentially diverting blood away from the brain. However, this notion has been debunked, as revealed by Graber and Twilley.
During Thanksgiving, the amino acid tryptophan, abundant in turkey and other meats, often gets blamed for inducing drowsiness. Yet, Kukushkin asserts that its impact appears minimal. In a discussion on Gastropod, Nikolay Kukushkin highlighted his sea slug research, hinting at a possible link to food coma causation. Kukushkin and colleagues discovered that a sea slug’s gut-produced insulin-like hormone, Aplysia, could trigger a food coma-like state. However, drawing parallels to the human food coma remains premature given the considerable anatomical differences between humans and sea slugs.
Regrettably, neither the hosts nor the researchers featured on the podcast offer a definitive solution to combat food comas. Nonetheless, there is no evidence suggesting that food comas pose inherent health risks. Thus, perhaps avoiding a test immediately after a holiday feast is advisable, but otherwise, relish the meal without reservations.
