A common occurrence for Thanksgiving, the feeling of what comes after such a large meal like Thanksgiving specifically. Tiredness and sleepiness. Though, why does everyone attribute it to the turkey? Today I thought it would be fun to explain this strange oddity.

So, first of all, you can of course attribute the sleepiness to an attribute of the turkey’s food composition. Turkey contains an amino acid known as Tryptophan. This substance encourages your brain to sleep, However, other things also have this compound, and other factors can contribute to such a feeling.

Have you ever eaten so much food that you felt equal to a lethargic rock? That is a term known as a food coma. Thanksgiving might be the most solid chance to eat enough to hit such a state. Food Comas are really common when you eat a lot, and Thanksgiving is literally Eating A Lot: The Holiday. It’s no wonder why it happens to work like that for that day.

Combining both factors leads to the perfect grounds of sleepiness. Lethargy and Sleep Chemicals. Not to mention eating a lot of it. You could have mixes of other Turkey products like Turkey Gravy or stuffing with Turkey. All of these likely contain Tryptophan, which could cause more intake of the Amino. Hope I have cleared confusion on what was a slight mystery of how it works!