Why a protein meal may either put you to sleep or keep you awake

It has widely been speculated that tryptophan, an amino-acid found in protein is responsible for sleepiness that occurs after taking a protein rich meal, but how it does it has largely eluded the minds of scientists for sometime until recently.

It is well known that tryptophan is converted into serotonin in the brain and then into melatonin in the pineal gland. Melatonin, produced from serotonin, causes sleep. Taken with carbohydrate, protein is digested and releases branched chain amino-acids that are taken up into the muscle. This allows tryptophan to be taken up into the brain with little competition from the branched chain amino-acids, already sequestrated in the muscle. In the brain, tryptophan is converted into serotonin and finally into melatonin, which brings about sleep. Calcium is necessary for melatonin formation, the reason why sea food is usually more hypnotic. [Melatonin is a strong antioxidant with high protective effects on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA].

Raised levels of brain adrenaline cause alertness and raise endorphin levels that cause mood elevation and decreased craving for food [adrenaline mobilizes glucose from stores]. In negative stress most of the mobilized glucose is used up. It is thought that adrenaline, produced, causes alertness by inhibiting the inhibitory cortex. Phenylalanine, found in protein, competes with tryptophan, also found in protein, for uptake into the brain and usually wins. It is converted into tyrosine, noradrenaline and ultimately into adrenaline in the brain. A meal rich in protein and containing little carbohydrate will cause alertness due to the effect of adrenaline, produced from phenylalanine. Other stimulatory amino-acids like glutamate and aspartate may play additional role in creating the state of alertness.

The bottom line is that a meal with good mix of carbohydrate and protein like beans, and especially rich in calcium like milk or sea food, will induce sleep while a meal rich mainly in protein like beef will produce alertness and mood elevation.

Dr. Oliver Verbe Birnso

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Natural Way to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

Most people express the frustration of straining to lose weight only to gain it back in a twinkle of an eye. This is because most weight loss programs are strenuous and not natural. Going to the gym is not always much fun and although you may enjoy playing tennis everyday this may not always be a practical way to lose weight, given that you may have to work on a daily basis to earn a living. If your job involves standing and talking then you may not only have the benefit of earning an income but also an opportunity to lose weight, for close to eight hours. You are more than twice able to spend calories standing than sitting. You are even luckier if your job involves body movement, since physical exercise is the best way to lose weight. If you are overweight, it is advisable to begin any exercise program slowly and build up with time. Although endurance exercise like jogging, may help you lose weight fastest, you will only keep it off if you refrain from lavishly rewarding yourself ...
Read more

How Much of Stress Do We Need?

The G1 phase of the cell cycle determines if a cell is to differentiate or not. During this phase, the cell develops protuberances(cilia) which sense the environment, effect movement and  in turn stimulate autophagy(nerve and muscle cells are much elongated from these protuberances). Levels of Nrf2, which lower levels of free radicals, fall in this pro-differentiation state. The longer the G1 the more likely the switch to differentiation from cell cycling. When there is transient fall in energy resources or growth factors, there will be less proliferation and more pro-differentiation, and when those resources later become available, more pronounced differentiation will take place. Transient spike in psychological, physical or nutritional stress will cause the engagement of the 5-phosphate pentose pathway that yields the anti-oxidant NADPH, and as well produces intermediates for protein synthesis. This promotes cellular prolif...
Read more

Fitness and Holistic Health

The body has a way of matching activity and immunity to metabolism. This is brought about through the circadian rythm. Driven by cortisol and entrained by sunlight and physical routine, this is a natural rhythm that is entrenched to all biological systems. It is governed by the major biological clock proteins  as well as organ-specific clock proteins and their negative feed-back inhibitions, which organ-specific clock proteins are different for different organs, and hence we have different times at which different organs' metabolic activities and functions peak. The clock proteins affect metabolism at the level of transcription in the nucleus. The body has to manage the limited energy resources carefully so that each organ's and system's needs are adequately catered to. To do this, different tissues have optimal functional activities at different times. However, the circadian rhythm is usually reprogramed when life-threatening and stressful contingencies avail, such as c...
Read more