Jason E. Andersen

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. I look forward to it every year. In fact, I am looking forward to it right now, at this very moment. I have a 23-pound turkey thawing in the fridge with only me to eat it.

So excited.

Bonus Fun Fact: It is well-known that consuming large amounts of turkey makes one drowsy. This is often blamed on something called Tryptophan. Tryptophan is one of 21 amino acids that are the chemical building blocks of proteins. When we consume protein-rich foods, our bodies break down those proteins to their base amino acids. Our bodies then use those amino acids to build other stuff. Tryptophan, or specifically L-Tryptophan, is used in our bodies to synthesize Serotonin and Melatonin, two hormones used in the sleep cycle. With this bit of knowledge, one can surmise that eating turkey leads to being sleepy.

However, this is actually not the case. Not directly anyway.

You see, the turkey proteins aren’t just being broken down into Tryptophan. Recall that there are 20 other amino acids, and many of them are also contained in turkey proteins. In fact, Tryptophan is only a small part of the total amount of amino acids found in turkey. What I’m saying is that there is a lot of competition for these amino acids to be absorbed into your body, and then there is also the time it takes for them to be synthesized into other substances. Biochemically speaking, while Tryptophan is a convenient scape-goat for your sleepiness, it is not directly causing it.

More likely, it is all the carbohydrates you ate along with the turkey, as those can more easily be absorbed into your body and pass into your brain, making you sleepy. It could also be all the alcohol you drank, you lush.

Regardless of the cause, enjoy your turkey coma if you are lucky enough this year to have one!