Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vogel Bomb, and our question of the day
Speaker 1: is does turkey really make you sleepy? America's favorite holiday
Speaker 1: bird does have the makings of a natural sedative in it,
Speaker 1: and amino acid called tripped de fin. Tripped de fin
Speaker 1: is an essential amino acid, meaning that you need it,
Speaker 1: but your body can't manufacture it. The body has to
Speaker 1: get tripped a fin and other essential amino acids from food.
Speaker 1: A trip defin helps the body produce the B vitamin nisin,
Speaker 1: which in turn helps you produce serotonin. Serotonin is a
Speaker 1: remarkable chemical that acts as a sort of calming agent
Speaker 1: in the brain and plays a key role in sleep,
Speaker 1: and tripped de fin is also a precursor to another
Speaker 1: common compound, melatonin. So you might think that if you
Speaker 1: eat a lot of turkey, your body would produce more
Speaker 1: serotonin and melatonin, and you would feel calm and maybe
Speaker 1: more likely to fall asleep. But nutritionists and other experts
Speaker 1: say that the trip defin in turkey probably won't trigger
Speaker 1: the body to produce more serotonin because trip defin works
Speaker 1: best on an empty stomach. The trip defin in Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: turkey has to vie with all of the other amino
Speaker 1: acids the body takes in in order to pass the
Speaker 1: blood brain barrier and get to work. Only part of
Speaker 1: the trip to fin in a turkey dinner will make
Speaker 1: it to the brain to help produce serotonin. The fact
Speaker 1: that Thanksgiving meals are often carbohydrate heavy actually does help.
Speaker 1: I think of all the bread stuffings, potatoes, corn, and
Speaker 1: candied tubers covered in marshmallows that we eat before we
Speaker 1: even get to the real desserts. The insulin our bodies
Speaker 1: releases to process all of that also serves as sort
Speaker 1: of rideshare vehicles for a lot of amino acids, but
Speaker 1: not for tripped a fin, which hitches a ride to
Speaker 1: the brain on a protein called albumin. So with most
Speaker 1: of the competition out of the way, it is in
Speaker 1: fact easier for tripped de fin to get into our
Speaker 1: brain and start the process that leads to the production
Speaker 1: of more serotonin. Melatonin, meanwhile, is produced outside of the brain,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to worry about that competition at
Speaker 1: the blood brain barrier. You do have to worry that
Speaker 1: you have all the other compounds necessary for your body
Speaker 1: to create it Overall, researchers think it's neither the melatonin
Speaker 1: nor the serotonin produced from trip to Fin that leads
Speaker 1: to rampant late afternoon napping on Thanksgiving. Most likely, it's
Speaker 1: the whole traditional meal together producing lethargy. The average Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: meal contains three thousand calories, more than most of us
Speaker 1: usually eat in a whole day, and your body works
Speaker 1: hard to digest all that food. After all, your nervous
Speaker 1: system is set up to prime your body for maximum
Speaker 1: nutrient absorption every single time you eat. A part of
Speaker 1: this is called our rest and digest response. When we eat,
Speaker 1: we excrete more saliva and gastric juices, and our heart
Speaker 1: rate and blood pressure lower. Also, our bodies are sending
Speaker 1: more blood to our guts in order to help out,
Speaker 1: meaning that less is available for the brain and the
Speaker 1: skeletal system. All of this can make you feel lethargic,
Speaker 1: limb heavy, and relaxed. Also, if you drink alcohol with
Speaker 1: your dinner, you'll likely feel the sedative effect of that
Speaker 1: as well. But there is a way to take advantage
Speaker 1: of the tripp to fin in Turkey if you have
Speaker 1: trouble getting to sleep one night while they're still leftover
Speaker 1: turkey in the fridge, you could have a late turkey
Speaker 1: snack and that nutritionists say might be the right amount
Speaker 1: of tripp to fin on an empty stomach to help
Speaker 1: produce sin serotonin. Today's episode was mostly written by a
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works contributor, the name of whom has been
Speaker 1: lost to time. If it was you right in. It
Speaker 1: was produced by Tyler Clang with the kind assistance of
Speaker 1: Paul Decan. For more on this and lots of other
Speaker 1: fulfilling topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com.