Thanksgiving Day brings an annual festival of delectables, complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and other trimmings, perhaps accented with a glass of wine and ended with a favorite piece of pumpkin pie. Mmmm! I thoroughly enjoy the Thanksgiving meal, perhaps imbibing a bit more than my norm.

Without fail, an hour or two later I become sleepy. I do not sleep alone, however, for most of our Thanksgiving day guests, excepting the indefatigable children, join me for a little snooze in an easy chair or on a high-backed couch later in the afternoon. This sleep-inducing phenomenon is well known, but the rationale behind the cause is debatable.

Some folks believe that turkey meat contains a mysterious ingredient, which induces sleep when you least desire it. That secret ingredient may be tryptophan (trip’-tuh-fan), an essential amino acid. Experts disagree that tryptophan causes sleepiness, as studies have found that turkey contains no greater amount of tryptophan than other poultry or fish. if true, why should turkey induce sleepiness when chicken or fish do not? (The Truth About Tryptophan, WebMD.com) Could it be the body’s digestion process? That process does require bodily energy to complete. The truth be known, any Thanksgiving day sleepiness likely remains the direct result of eating too much. Indeed, a glass or two of wine may increase the drowsiness coefficient.

The real surprise: doctors have a name for it! “Postprandial somnolence”
(post-pran’-dee-all som’ nohl ence,) or more simply, P.S. To parse the phrase: “post”, of course, means after; “prandial” means during or relating to a meal; and “somnolence’ means : sleepiness, drowsiness, a state of strong desire to sleep. So if you wish to impress your fellow sleepy guests, who may be well beyond their impression point, tell them that you are feeling “postprandial somnolence,” and excuse yourself. They may believe you have something seriously wrong, as they blink their eyes, gape a yawn and search for a comfortable resting place to reflect on it.

P.S. So this Thanksgiving Day, please do not blame the poor turkey for your sleepiness, just sip another glass of wine, move to a favorite chair, and accept a delightful postprandial somnolence.