Beat that post-meal dozy spell
updated the 13 June 2014 à 23:16Here are the expert’s tips on how to avoid those usually inevitable sleepy spells that prevent full concentration at work.
The little bout of doziness after a hearty dinner is commonplace. But feeling completely exhausted at the end of each meal may actually be hiding food intolerance, a lack of hydrochloric acid or pancreatic enzymes.
The mechanisms at work.
Regular ingestion of poorly tolerated foods can cause long-term intestinal inflammation. In fact, the digestive system draws too much energy away from the brain and muscles. It is time to act and adopt appropriate strategies to suit your case. Similarly, when the stomach does not make enough acid, or the pancreas, enough enzymes, digestion becomes difficult and the general pH level suffers.
How do we remedy it?
Diversify food intake to soothe intestinal irritation. Food allergies are easy to identify with a simple blood test, but food intolerances are not always as easy to detect. One solution – practice foreclosure; that is to say remove the foods you suspect may be the problem (bread and pasta, dairy …) from your plate one at a time. If troubles disappear, your hypothesis is confirmed. Set each test to a maximum of one month, and then reintroduce the foods one by one to identify those correlated with a decrease in energy.
In case of a lack of hydrochloric acid, spend a little longer chewing each mouthful. If the stomach is really lazy and upper abdomen bloats, take hydrochloric acid tablets (60 to 300 mg at the beginning of the meal). With pancreatic enzyme deficiency, however, food accumulates and ferments in the small intestine. To reduce fatigue and bloating the middle of the belly, take digestive enzymes supplementation (150-300 mg) after each meal.
Thierry Souccar
Read more from our Fatigue series:
Morning fatigue: Causes and solutions
Why do we get tired in the day?
