Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that suffers people various consequences and alerts the undiagnosed with multiple symptoms. Some speculations are that falling asleep after eating could be a symptom of diabetes. Is falling asleep after eating a sign of diabetes? Or could it be a sign of tiredness? This article gives you detailed information regarding this symptom. Let’s get started!
Content Of The Article
Is Falling Asleep After Eating A Sign Of Diabetes?
Falling asleep after eating might be a sign of diabetes, and we will get into this further in this article!
We can not conclude it is diabetes because it can also be various factors contributing to postprandial sleepiness.
Postprandial Sleepiness: What Is It?
Postprandial sleepiness refers to drowsiness or a strong requirement to sleep shortly after eating a meal.
And this happens to most individuals due to a temporary drop in energy levels as the body spends all the energy on digesting the consumed food, particularly meals rich in carbohydrates.
However, excessive sleepiness after meals may be because of several factors and can also be an undiagnosed health condition such as diabetes.
Diabetes And Postprandial Sleepiness:
Here is how postprandial sleepiness links to diabetes.
1. Reactive Hypoglycemia
Reactive hypoglycemia can be a cause of falling asleep after eating in some cases.
In this condition, blood sugar drops drastically after having a meal, leading to symptoms like fatigue and drowsiness.
However, reactive hypoglycemia can affect an individual without leading to diabetes. People with diabetes have more chances of experiencing this postprandial sleepiness due to impaired insulin regulation.
2. Hyperglycemia
Hyperglycemia or high blood sugar causes postprandial sleepiness (falling asleep after eating).
Drowsiness or fatigue are the consequences of uncontrolled diabetes and frequent high blood sugar levels.
When the blood sugar levels stay high for a longer period, there is a heavy blood glucose rush all over the body, which might lead to the sensitivity of lethargy or falling asleep after a meal.
3. Insulin Sensitivity
Enough insulin is regulated in nondiabetic individuals, and optimum glucose is produced in the bloodstream.
But in diabetic people, the body may be unable to generate insulin on its own or use it effectively to convert glucose into energy, leading to blood sugar fluctuations and lack of energy.
The lack of energy causes postprandial sleepiness and even dizziness after eating.
So this is how high and low blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity of diabetics can lead to postprandial sleepiness.
Let’s check out the other factors contributing to postprandial sleepiness.
Factors Contributing to Postprandial Sleepiness
Here are the primary factors that result in feeling asleep after eating.
1. Consuming High Glycemic Index Foods
It depends on the kind of meal you eat. Specifically, consuming meals with high GI (glycemic index) induces a sharp spike in blood glucose levels.
The rise of blood sugar levels makes you feel dizzy, leading to postprandial sleepiness (falling asleep after eating meals).
The high-GI foods include sugary snacks, processed carbohydrates, and sweetened liquids.
2. Overeating
Eating much food, especially large meals, can strain the body’s metabolic processes, leading to a sudden rise in blood glucose levels.
And often followed by a sharp drop in levels, triggering postprandial sleepiness.
Irregular eating can also lead to postprandial sleepiness as the body’s energy levels are limited to digesting the consumed food.
3. Food Allergy Or Intolerance
We all have a list of food items that we like and dislike. However, some foods don’t react well to your body, and your body opposes them.
Foods that cause allergies and intolerant foods can be a reason for postprandial sleepiness.
They can impact the digestive system and other functions leading to lower energy levels and postprandial sleepiness.
You can observe other symptoms like gastrointestinal upset, skin rashes, headaches, or migraines.
4. Lack Of Physical Activity
Lack of physical activity also contributes to feeling sleepy after eating.
The lack of physical activity leads to low insulin sensitivity that fluctuates blood sugar, leading to postprandial sleepiness or fatigue.
Also, the body becomes lazy due to inactivity, and it won’t be able to generate much energy.
So, when you eat food, the body spends its entire energy digesting it, giving you the sensation of falling asleep.
5. Being Dehydrated
Dehydration can also lead to getting tired after eating.
Consuming large meals without sufficient water all day can make you fall asleep.
Because the body doesn’t get the required amount of water, making you dehydrated and feel more sleepy soon after eating the meal.
6. Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder condition where your breathing pauses while you sleep.
And this wakes your body up suddenly to resume breathing. Multiple interruptions disrupt your sleep, resulting in a poor sleep routine.
Ensure to treat sleep apnea, or it can contribute to long-term health issues like heart disease and diabetes.
So, these are the primary factors that contribute to postprandial sleepiness.
Let’s see how to fix these things.
Best Measures To Manage Postprandial Sleepiness
1. Monitor Blood Sugar Levels
In case you have diabetes, regularly monitoring blood sugar levels can help you avoid postprandial sleepiness.
Monitoring helps identify foods that spike blood sugar levels after eating and foods that disrupt insulin production.
Adjust the diet pattern as per your body condition, which can reduce falling asleep after eating.
It also lets you know your blood sugar drops, enabling you to care for and stabilize the levels.
Moreover, if the condition still exists after changing the diet, tracking blood sugar levels helps you to change the medication.
Therefore, monitoring blood sugar levels on a regular basis is crucial.
2. Reducing Glycemic Index
Reducing your Glycemic Index (GI) can help you with postprandial sleepiness.
It can be done by reducing the consumption of sugary snacks and beverages.
As said earlier, these high-glycemic foods rapidly increase blood glucose levels, causing you to feel or fall asleep after consuming them.
Avoid these high-GI foods and incorporate low-glycemic foods like whole grains, legumes, and non-starchy vegetables.
These foods get digested more quickly, slowing the glucose flow into the bloodstream.
3. Restructuring the diet
Restructuring and a balanced diet are essential for reducing postprandial sleepiness for diabetic or nondiabetic individuals.
You shall incorporate and add a combination of nutrient-rich foods like whole grains, raw vegetables, lean proteins and nutritious fats.
Observe the intolerant foods and the foods that cause your allergies. Please do not add them to your diet. Instead, replace them with healthy alternatives.
Also, limiting the meal size and distributing low carbohydrate foods evenly throughout the day helps relieve postprandial sleepiness and stables blood sugar levels for people with diabetes.
4. Stay Hydrated
Dehydration is a major reason for sudden health issues. Staying hydrated is crucial for healthy metabolic activities in our body.
Drinking water or healthy liquids in small quantities at frequent intervals throughout the day can make you stay hydrated and active.
It can eliminate postprandial sleepiness by balancing blood sugar and increasing oxygen supply, which generates more energy.
An adult should have at least eight glasses of water daily.
5. Exercise
Physical activity helps to deal with postprandial sleepiness. It offers numerous health benefits that contribute to overall well-being.
Engaging in physical activities like simple exercises, working out at the gym or involving in a sport can burn fat and improve insulin sensitivity.
It also boosts energy levels and effectively stabilizes blood sugar, which helps not to fall asleep after eating.
Motivate yourself to exercise at least five times a week and reap all its benefits.
6. Get Your Stress Down
Stress can impact blood glucose levels, and it could be a reason for postprandial sleepiness.
Adopt stress-managing techniques like mindfulness meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, or engaging hobbies.
Spare time with your family or friends, and control your emotions and thoughts to feel better and relieve stress.
7. Increase sleep quality
Poor sleep affects the functioning of the brain and blood sugar levels.
It primarily contributes to daytime sleepiness and sleepiness after eating.
Establish a fixed sleep routine to sleep, wake up simultaneously, and get good sleep quality by adopting a healthy bed environment.
Good sleep is essential for healthy metabolic activity by the body. As an adult, you shall grab at least 7-9 hours of sleep daily.
8. Quit Alcohol And Smoking
If you consume alcohol or smoke, it’s wise to quit them to manage diabetes, avoid postprandial sleepiness and reduce severe health hazards.
Consuming alcohol and smoking can effects the liver and kidneys, causing rapid blood sugar fluctuations, which leads to lower energy levels.
And it leads to falling asleep after eating.
As we all know, alcohol and smoking are worst for human health, but we still avoid quitting them.
But it’s high time, and you have to stop taking them.
9. Regulate Caffeine Consumption
Too much intake of caffeine is bad for health.
Caffeine is prone to trigger anxiety that disrupts the brain by increasing unnecessary stress.
Also, caffeine consumption at night leads to low sleepiness and poor sleep quality.
All these factors combinedly cause postprandial sleepiness.
It’s better to stop caffeine intake or regulate it to as low as possible.
10. Consult Your Healthcare Doctor
Above all, being a diabetic, consult your healthcare doctor if you feel postprandial sleepiness consistently.
Explain how you feel and ask if there is any change in medication.
Being a diabetic, do not neglect to consult your healthcare doctor, as there might be a requirement to change the dosage of your daily meds in case of postprandial sleepiness.
Also, do not neglect regular medical checkups to monitor your health and avoid undiagnosed severe issues.
So, these are the best measures to manage postprandial sleepiness.
So, now you have better clarity of whether falling asleep after eating is a sign of diabetes or other factors that cause this condition.
Also read How To Stop Dizziness From High Blood Sugar? 11 Finest Ways!
Let’s check out other signs of diabetes!
Other Signs Of Diabetes
Diabetes is a never-ending disorder that hinders insulin production in your body and causes blood sugar fluctuations.
There are many symptoms that an undiagnosed diabetic person can experience. Most are easy to find, and a few cannot.
Here are some other signs of diabetes that you can look out for.
- Frequent urination and increased thirst – A person with diabetes experiences frequent urination as the kidneys flush out the excess glucose from the body through urine. Because of frequent urination, you get dehydrated and feel thirsty all the time.
- Blurred Vision – The high blood sugar levels of diabetes causes the centre of the retina lens to swell up with fluid and result in blurred or distorted vision.
- Weight loss – As diabetes results in low insulin production, the lower insulin levels stop the body cells from getting glucose from the bloodstream for energy. When this happens, the body utilizes and burns fat and muscles to generate energy, which results in weight loss.
- Food Cravings – Without insulin, your brain can’t use sugar in the body. As your brain relies on sugar for fuel, and it doesn’t know anything about diabetes, it sends you signals to consume food, which leads you to food cravings and feeling hungry even after eating.
- Slow Healing Of Wounds – The high blood sugar levels affect your body’s healing nature and make the wounds progress quickly but heal more slowly.
- Fatigue – Body cells use insulin to absorb glucose from the blood and generate energy. But in people with diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, leading to excess glucose flow into the blood. You will witness fatigue or weakness as the body cells do not get enough glucose.
- Numbness in hands and feet -High blood sugar can severely damage your nerves, specifically thin nerves. And these damaged nerves stop sending signals to the body parts like hands and feet that sometimes make you feel numb.
- Mood swings – A diabetic person goes through mood swings as higher blood glucose levels are known to be connected with anger or sadness.
So these are the major signs of diabetes, and there are also a few other symptoms.
And this is all the answer to your question – Is falling asleep after eating a sign of diabetes?
Final Words
Diabetes is hard to live with! If you are a non-diabetic person, please take enough prevention for diabetes by following a simple and healthy diet, exercise and lifestyle. And falling asleep after eating might be a sign of diabetes, but it is mostly due to other factors mentioned above.
If you are a diabetic person, consult your doctor if you feel asleep after eating. Do not worry about it; it is nothing complicated, and a change in your daily medications can resolve it. Also, follow the best measures like staying hydrated, eating a healthy diet, and exercising to live a healthy life.
Maxhealthily wants you, yes, you, to live healthily!
Cheers,
Team Maxhealthily.
Also read
What is Diabetes? Here are the 10 Ways To Control Diabetes.
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