Why sweets make me sleepy

The levels should normalize after an hour or two 5. It is not always easy to determine whether you are suffering from post-meal hyperglycemia. If you suspect high blood sugar is playing a part in fatigue during or immediately after eating, check your glucose level before eating breakfast one day.

For accurate results, take your glucose level first thing in the morning when you wake up and before eating or drinking anything.

Then, eat your typical breakfast and check your blood sugar level about an hour or two later to see if you have a prolonged or unusually high spike in glucose levels. Talk to your doctor about the readings. In addition, consult with a medical professional for additional advice on how to control high blood sugar. If you tend to let yourself off the hook, raise the white flag when things get tougher than you expected, send yourself on an unconscious binge-eating trip — BetterMe app is here to help you leave all of these sabotaging habits in the past!

There are several things you can do to avoid post-meal fatigue:. If eating sugary foods really makes you feel tired, then maybe giving up those treats is best for now! There are plenty of healthy snacks out there that will keep you satisfied without sabotaging your energy levels. If your sweet tooth makes treats too hard to resist, plan out your meals for the day and try to include no more than one serving of a sweet treat this is about calories.

Or have a piece of fruit, which will give you that sweet taste of sugar but along with fiber that slows down absorption of the sugar into your bloodstream.

Eat your meals spaced hours apart instead of eating too much at once. If you are eating a lot in one sitting then make sure it is not right before bedtime as this might result in post-meal fatigue and grogginess the next day. Drinking alcohol before eating is known to disrupt blood sugar balance and may leave you feeling drowsy as a result 3. If you intend to drink alcohol, never do so on an empty stomach!

Try eating a healthy meal beforehand that contains some protein. Exercise helps with blood circulation and can stimulate the sympathetic nervous system to increase energy levels 4. It can be anything from a simple walk to a full-on gym session.

Plus, being active can help you maintain a healthy weight. Take in enough electrolytes as the body needs them to maintain normal fluid water balance for proper cellular function. Using sea salt or eating high sodium foods like almonds and avocados is helpful for this purpose.

Drinking a natural sports drink with extra sodium can also help keep you awake after eating sugar. Your daytime drowsiness may be worsened by poor nighttime sleep. If ignored over a long period of time, this post-meal inflammation can lead to other problems within the body such as auto-immune diseases, digestive disorders, and other conditions.

Now that you understand why you feel extremely tired after eating sugar, it is important to learn how to avoid over-consumption during the holiday season. When you go to a party hungry, every healthy decision you have will go out the window. You are so hungry that everything looks appetizing and you eat way too much of it.

Instead, have a small nourishing meal before you leave for the party, this will help you to keep your head out of the cookie try and focus more on the social aspect of the party. Consuming protein with a meal that contains sugar will help your body to produce more Orexin and prevent a huge blood sugar spike. Diets high in protein are recommended for people who suffer from Diabetes for this exact reason.

Eating healthy fats along with the sugar can help your body to slow down the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream. This will prevent a crash, and help your body to stay adequately nourished. Most people forget that alcohol gets absorbed into your bloodstream in the exact same way that sugar does. It has the same effects as sugar in every possible way, and it is best to avoid high alcohol consumption if you do not want to feel tired all the time.

It is okay to limit yourself to two delicious cookies, or a piece of cake at your Christmas party. However, if you find yourself hanging around the food table while gorging down every holiday treat insight, you may have a problem.

Set a goal for yourself before you even step foot inside the party, and stick to it. You will feel better about it later, as this will also help you to avoid holiday weight gain. Now that you understand the science behind why you always feel extremely tired after eating sugar, there is some other important healthy holiday advice you should follow as well.

Contact us to set up an appointment with one of our medical professionals to discover how you can achieve the healthiest feeling that your body is capable of.

By Dr. So what you might consider an energy boost actually causes a crash, or a sugar low soon after consumption. This sugar low is a result of your body expending more energy to break down the sugar. So your body expels more energy than it takes in when you eat sugar.

The change in orexin levels is also why when you eat a meal high in carbs which can contain large amounts of processed sugar you feel like taking a nap afterward. This sleepy sensation makes you not want to move, reducing physical activity. Without this activity, you start putting on weight. When you constantly consume processed foods and sugary sodas, your orexin levels stay low, keeping you from exercising on a consistent basis. The Sugar Addiction Cycle. There is also another reason why sugar makes to feel tired and sleepy.

This is due to blood sugar levels fluctuating. When you eat sweet foods, you get a blood sugar spike, which causes your body to release insulin to take the glucose from your blood into cells. However this process usually overcompensates for the sugar spike and leaves too little glucose in the bloodstream, resulting in low blood sugar, or a 'sugar slump'.

And the brains reaction to this is to demand a quick source of glucose to bring levels back up again, resulting in cravings and the whole process starting over again. Due to how the orexin system works, eating sugar makes you feel sleepy.