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Feel sleepy at work? Blame it on fatty food habits

Feel sleepy at work? Blame it on fatty food habits
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Do you feel drowsy or sleepy at work during daytime?

Blame it on your love for fatty foods such as oily samosas and cheese-laden pizzas. And don’t forget a poor night’s sleep.

Yes it’s true!

Your eating habits affect your sleep.

According to a recent study, men who eat high fatty foods and sleep less at night are more likely to feel sleepy during the day.

sleepy at work
 Fatty-foods

“After adjusting for other demographic and lifestyle factors and chronic diseases, we found that those who consumed the highest fat intake were more likely to experience excessive daytime sleepiness,” said lead author Yingting Cao, doctoral student at University of Adelaide in Australia.

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In addition to this, higher intake of fatty foods is also powerfully associated with sleep apnea, a sleep disorder.

This is the reason why most of the guys feel sleepy at work.

Fatty diet makes you feel sleepy at work

sleepy at work

The study was called Men Androgen Inflammation Lifestyle Environment and Stress (MAILES). It revealed the association between rich fatty diet and sleep. The study was conducted by the University of Adelaide’s Population Research and Outcome Studies unit in the School of Medicine and the Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men’s Health.

The study took into account various demographic data depending on lifestyle factors. It was conducted on more than 1800 Australian men aged 35-80 and included their dietary habits over a 12-month period.

What did the study reveal?

It revealed that those who have highest fat consumption were more likely to experience sleepiness during the day. At times poor sleep during the night may also result into feeling sleepy at work during the day, resulting into less energy.

Among those with available dietary and sleep data, 41% of the men surveyed reported experiencing daytime sleepiness, while 47% of them had poor sleep quality at night.

About 54% had mild-to-moderate sleep apnea, and 25% had moderate-to-severe sleep apnea.

“Poor sleep and feeling sleepy during the day means you have less energy, but this, in turn, is known to increase people’s cravings for high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods associated with poor sleep outcomes. So the poor diet-and-sleep pattern can become a vicious cycle,” Cao explained in the paper published in the journal Nutrients.

Men who eat high fatty foods and sleep less at night are more likely to feel sleepy during the day. Click To Tweet

This is a kind of vicious cycle which you might not have realized it till now.

Let’s see how it works:

When you feel sleepy at work during the day, you have less energy to complete your work. Less energy leads to cravings for high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods. This in turn is again linked to poor sleep.

“We hope our work could help to inform future intervention studies, enabling people to achieve healthy weight loss while also improving their quality of sleep,” Cao added.

Daytime sleepiness is something which you must not ignore. It can have serious implications on your concentration level and alertness.

So eat good, healthy food!

 


Comments (12)

  • That’s really interesting! I don’t eat so much fatty foods and sleep well, but I am sleepy sometimes during the afternoon. When I am in Spain with Dad we always have a siesta in the afternoon – maybe I should just move there!

    Enjoy the journey!
    Mandy Allen recently posted…Be A Light In This WorldMy Profile

    • Author

      Hi Mandy

      I usually take care of what I eat but at times we really feel like having a leisure time and eat whatever we like. So whenever I eat those fatty foods I do feel sleepy during the daytime.

      Thanks for your valuable feedback

      Have a great day!

  • Hi Sonal,

    Wonderful topic indeed. I do notice if I do eat fatty foods, I cannot fall asleep. I don’t do it often because I am conscious of what I eat, but there are those days where I “treat” myself.

    I like the study you have given here. I notice that my husband will sneak those fatty foods sometimes and then he is up at night.

    We do maintain a healthy diet, never eat fried foods or even meat. But we all have those days and I can see the drastic difference.

    -Donna

    • Author

      Hi Donna

      This is what exactly happens with me. I take care of what I eat but when I treat myself I do feel sleepy during the day. So I try to avoid such fatty foods.

      Thanks fro your valuable insight

      Have a great day!

  • Hi Sonal,

    There were so many things I didn’t know about the demographics concerning the fatty food. I have noticed so many times that when people eat this kind of food, then they usually grab coffee. That overcomes the sleepiness but when the effect of the coffee is gone, the irritation starts, especially after not much sleep at night.

    When I really feel like eating junk food, I make sure that 1) I am not going to work afterwards and 2) It is not late at night. The first will definitely make me feel sleepy and the second will not help with digestion.

    Thank you for amazing and informative post. Wishing you a great day!

    Zaria
    Psychic Nest recently posted…Reincarnation and the AfterlifeMy Profile

    • Author

      Hi Zaria

      I totally agree over the point that once the effect of tea or coffee goes, we start feeling sleepy. This happens specially during the daytime at office. If we avoid junk or fatty foods at the office, we wont feel drowsy.

      You are doing very right by avoiding junk food at night. It really is very bad for our metabolic system.

      Thanks for taking out time and sharing your valuable insight.

      Have a nice day!

  • An interesting study Sonal. I can’t locate the actual study to see if they say what type of fat the men ate but I assume it was the sort that you find in junk food which is usually refined polyunsaturated oils which means the fatty acids are damaged or saturated fat combined with refined carbohydrates which is always a bad combination for health.

    I doubt that healthy fats like those found in avocados, fresh nuts and seeds and their oils and coconut oil would be a problem.

    The moral of all these studies is that we have to eat a healthy balanced wholefood diet to be healthy!
    Sandy Halliday recently posted…5 Day Raw Food Detox | Detox RecipesMy Profile

    • Author

      Hi Sandy

      Thanks for the wonderful insight. You are absolutely right in pointing out the kind of fat people eat. The healthy fats you mentioned do not cause any problem but the others do cause sleepiness during the daytime. It is something very common nowadays.

      Yes we should eat a balanced diet to stay fit and healthy.

      thanks for writing in

      Have a nice day!

  • Hi Sonal

    This is very interesting. It is no wonder I see most of my friends feel dizzy and sleepy at work. I guess too much of everything isn’t good.

    However, I notice that I have am not dizzy when I eat fatty foods even though I don’t eat them a lot. Thank you for sharing this information. Take Care and have a wonderful week.

    • Author

      Hi Ikechi

      Its true that we all feel drowsy during the daytime when we eat fatty foods. It happens specially in the summers. Even I have experienced the same thing. I hope the post helps all to understand that we need to eat good and healthy food

      Thanks for writing in

      Have a nice day!

  • Hey Sonal. This is an incredibly well done piece. I advocate for healthy sleep and it is nice to see you doing the same thing.

    You mentioned about sleep apnea… and research has found that fatty dairy products do indeed make sleep apnea worse. The sleepiness becomes more serious if the victim does not know that he has sleep apnea, something that a lot of people don’t know until it is serious.
    Once again, thank you for sharing
    Patrick recently posted…11 Natural Foods That Will Help You Stop Snoring TonightMy Profile

    • Author

      Hi Patrick

      Thanks for visiting my blog and sharing your feedback. Its true that healthy sleep is very important.

      You are absolutely right about the fact that if the victim is not aware about the sleep apnea, it causes many problems.

      Thanks for writing in

      Have a nice day!

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