How to overcome sleepiness after lunch?

[F A B]

I'm 22 years old and I have a healthy life: I sleep at least 8 hours per night, I'm a fit guy, I workout daily, no alcohol, no smoking, etc... 

But I really struggle with sleepiness after lunch. As soon as I finish eating, it's as if my brain shuts down for a couple of hours.

This problem is becoming quite limiting lately. I've just started a Master's at university and I have lectures from Monday to Friday both in the morning and in the afternoon. I don't have time for the afternoon nap (as I used to) and, on the contrary, I need to be focused. I follow the lectures after lunch, but since I can't stay concentrated it's as if I didn't follow anything. My brain is so foggy that it cannot absorb any information.

 

[nistake]

Well, there's a few things to try out:

- Intermittent fasting (since I've been doing it, I haven't really had any afternoon crashes)

- Cut down on the caffeine or quit drinking it all together

- Drink plenty of water before/during/after lunch

- When you're eating, slow down and chew your food properly. This is really important. If you're just stuffing down your food in a hurry, then it's no wonder that your body requires much more energy to digest. See: 

 

[F A B]

Thank you @nistake

Can you explain the intermittent fasting to me? ?

[seeking_brilliance]

is it every type of food, or can you narrow it down do certain things like carbs or fat content, peanuts, etc? 

Edited October 1, 2020 by seeking_brilliance

[SonataAllegro]

To some extent you're gonna be tired after you eat, but make sure you don't eat too much "heavy" food (processed carbs, meats, dairy) for lunch -- save that for dinner and focus on fruits and vegetables during the day. Doing this gives me so much more energy than I used to have.

Edited October 2, 2020 by SonataAllegro

[kag101]

Do you eat a lot at lunch?

[Fadl]

Dont eat a lot, and don't eat at specific time. Change this routine.

[nistake]

@F A B There you go:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide

It's quite simple, really. There's a window of time in a day (like 8 hours) and you eat your meals in that period. In the rest, you fast (16 hours).

Mind you, it's not the same for everybody. You may need to customize the duration, amount of meals, etc. Also, fasting at first can be quite uncomfortable. If you're used to eating 3-4 times a day, your body needs some time to adjust to fasting. It varies, but I'd say it's 2-3 months. 

Personally, I eat my lunch at 12 pm and my dinner is around 7-8 pm. Maybe a healthy snack between my meals, but that's it.

[F A B]

11 hours ago, seeking_brilliance said:

is it every type of food, or can you narrow it down do certain things like carbs or fat content, peanuts, etc? 

I don't know exactly, but the most influencing food is pasta and carbs in general, I guess. I'll try to substitute them with some vegetables.

 

8 hours ago, FeelSpaghetti said:

@F A B Try a green based keto diet, also you're not getting deep enough sleep. Up your cardio in the morning so that you could increase sleep quality.

I used to have this and on some days where I don't get the best sleep I feel a dip in energy levels around 1pm ish, however the keto diet really helped that out. 

As for brain fog: cardio as I mentioned and cutting out excessive social media use, porn, videogames etc. basically, anything that over stimulates you. 

I already do cardio and I'm not involved in porn, videogames, social media, etc... 

I think the problem is in the diet. Is keto diet also good for who does weight lifting at the gym?

 

6 hours ago, kag101 said:

Do you eat a lot at lunch?

Unfortunately yes, I do.

The problem is that, due to my workout, I need to eat a lot during the day.

[okulele]

Intermittent fasting solved this for me (omad specifically).

[Stephen]

How much caffeine are you having during the day?

Get 30 mins extra sleep a night. The difference between 8 hours and 8.5 is MASSIVE for me. 

Take 10 minute brisk walking breaks A LOT.  

[LastThursday]

For years I ate sandwiches for lunch. So carbs and protein mostly. I always felt drained getting back to work afterwards. 

I did the 5/2 diet for quite a few months, which is basically fasting two days a week. Lost a good amount of weight, but now felt very fuzzy and lightheaded in the afternoons on those days - and concentration was zero.

One thing it did though, is make me crave fresh juicy tomatoes for some reason. So when I stopped 5/2, I started eating salad for lunch. Problem solved! Keep away from carbs.

Also chewing gum can help keep you alert through the afternoon slump.

[integral]

Reduce simple carb intake.

[F A B]

2 hours ago, Stephen said:

How much caffeine are you having during the day?

Zero ahaha

I don't take coffee even if I was tempted to try, but I guess it would be just a temporary solution. At some point, the body will get used to it, so I'll still have my brain fog plus an addiction to caffeine. Right?  ?

Edited October 2, 2020 by F A B

[Elham]

I had the same problem. I solved it with omitting lunch from my daily plans.

I mostly ate fruits for after I woke up. Then I had a late breakfast at 11. Skipped lunch and I had dinner at 7.

It worked best for me.

[RawJudah]

Keep active after eating anything. Sitting down after food will cause you to be sleepy.

Also, quit caffeine if you are consuming any, it just makes you crash.

[erik8lrl]

Go vegan or vegetarian, you will feel more energetic after eating to full.  

[PurpleTree]

that's why i don't eat lunch anymore

 

i eat a breakfast which includes protein 

and then i eat a big dinner

 

during the day i eat some fruits here and there, maybe some dark chocolate, nuts and olives as snack.

 

25 minutes ago, erik8lrl said:

Go vegan or vegetarian, you will feel more energetic after eating to full.  

not me, if i eat a bowl of vegan pasta etc. for lunch i still feel tired afterwards

Edited October 2, 2020 by PurpleTree

[kag101]

On 02/10/2020 at 4:27 AM, F A B said:

On 01/10/2020 at 9:52 PM, kag101 said:

Do you eat a lot at lunch?

Unfortunately yes, I do.

There you have it.

[Vittorio]

On 2.10.2020 at 2:53 PM, integral said:

Reduce simple carb intake.

This.

Or better, swap rafined wheat with whole grain wheat.

If you eat a lot at lunch, this is the problem.

Avoid added sugar and processed food (they cause insuline peak and successive crush --> sleepiness).

Eat more vegetable and less caloric food at lunch and more caloric food at dinner.

Do more frequent meals, so that you don't overeat on one single meal.

Include protein and fat in each meal. They'll help you to satiate you more and eat less in the successive meal.

Go to the gym to improve your overall energy and increase your metabolic rate.

Supplement with animal Omega 3 and coffeine pills (the ones which do not cause jitter).

I eat 4-5 times/day and put the biggest part of the kcal on dinner, after going to the gym.

This help me to stay awake during day.

Hope it helps!

Edited October 6, 2020 by Vittorio