As is wonted at this meter of year , bellies up and down the US will be going into overdrive this Thanksgiving , institutionalise a tsunami offood comasrippling across the nation . While most people assume that this intense post - meal fatigue duty is make by the diversion of origin away from the genius and towards the gut , scientist have in reality never descend up with any hard evidence to explain the food coma phenomenon – until now .
A raw study in the journaleLifedescribes how researcher honour the eternal rest patterns of fruit flies after eating . Interestingly , they found that only sealed types of food for thought cause them to become drowsy , with common salt and protein sending them to sleep for a period of time of up to 40 minutes , while sugar had no such issue .
The team then observed the flies ’ mentality activity as they ate , and witness that the first appearance of protein actuate neurons in their leucokinin sense organ , causing them to go to sleep . Leucokinin is a neurotransmitter that has previously been obtain toregulate fruit fly front ’ food intake , and is the equivalent of a substance promise tachykinin in craniate .
When the investigator genetically still these leucokinin receptor neuron , the fly no longer became sleepy after eating protein . In astatement , study co - author Keith Murphy explained that “ by turning on and off neuron in the fly brain , we identified several circuit dedicate to ascertain postprandial sleep . ”
The squad also pen common salt intake is known to affectoxytocinsignaling , which in tour helps toregulate sleep , and could therefore contribute to food coma .
Despite these revelations regarding the mechanisms that control food comas , many question stay unrequited as to whysleeping after eatingis necessary . In the wild , sleep increase fauna ’ exposure , and is therefore only worth it if it brings considerable benefits .
The team therefore speculate that slumbering may aid digestion , or could help to consolidate memory about the locating of food sources , although more much more research will be need before the mystery of the food for thought comatoseness is fully solved .
