Feelings Sleepy After Eating, Breathing and Digestion

Young woman sleeps after eating junk food For most people, sleep produces the worst effect on personal breathing and body oxygenation. The next most damaging factor is eating, especially eating too much. You can easily confirm the strong negative effects of these factors on the body oxygen test. It is common that body oxygen test results are reduced by 20-40% or by 5-10 seconds due to hyperventilation.

Overeating produces a serious biochemical shock on the whole organism due to factors related to heavy breathing. Feeling sleepy after eating and even falling asleep after meals are frequent signs of this biochemical Effects of overbreathing on brain oxygen levels shock. This effect of being sleepy after eating meals is much stronger after eating junk food and especially overeating (see the second half of this page for more info about this effect). We start to generate free radicals (causing oxidative stress or damage to cells), when the body oxygen levels drop below 20 s (see the body oxygen test below).

Hyperventilation is an important part of our “fight-or-flight” response. In such conditions, large muscles need more blood for a better chance of survival. That means that more blood would be diverted to the large skeletal muscles, resulting in less blood for vital organs including the organs of digestion.

Medical doctors smiling Indeed, British and Japanese scientists found decreased blood flow to the liver (Hughes et al, 1979 and Okazaki et al, 1980), while American medical doctors confirmed the same effect for the colon (Gilmour et al, 1980). Hence, the more heavily we breathe, the less blood and oxygen goes to our digestive organs (and the brain too) due to hypocapnic vasoconstriction.

In addition, the suppressed Bohr effect reduces oxygenation of the digestive organs, as documented by various Western studies.

Landscape of mountains with snow Almost a century ago, Yale Professor Yandell Henderson from Yale’s School of Medicine found that a low CO2 in the arterial blood (due to hyperventilation) resulted in loss of tone of the intestines, producing extreme intestinal congestion. Saturation of the blood with CO2 rapidly eliminated the congestion (Henderson, 1907). The results were published in the American Journal of Physiology.

Warning: In some people, mild voluntary hyperventilation can almost halt their digestion so that it can take up to 5-7 hours or more to empty the stomach. Note that such “experimentation” can be dangerous leading to the aggravation of existing gastrointestinal problems. Breathing less (or hypoventilation) can also make some digestive problems worse.

Digestive system Hence, chronic hyperventilation can interfere with normal digestion. Poor blood and oxygen supply can lead to a lack of digestive enzymes, accumulation of metabolic waste products, slower digestion, putrefaction of some foods and nutrients and mal-absorption. Systematic research in this area is absent and there are more questions than answers.

From a practical viewpoint, the above suggests that smaller CPs (body oxygen content) correspond to slower digestion. For example, a person with normal breathing pattern, it takes about 2 hours to digest a regular meal (when almost no food is left in the stomach). The same meal for a sick individual (e.g., 15 s CP) with ineffective breathing pattern would need 1-2 hours more of digestion. The person with normal breathing after this meal would still be reasonably fit and able to exercise (not very rigorously, of course) after eating the same meal. The sick person would definitely need a rest.

Feeling sleepy after eating (for overweight people)

Person is eating and gets sleepy Many modern people, especially obese ones, feel sleepy after eating. This indicates overeating and ineffective breathing at the same time. The solution to this common problem for obese people is to practice reduced breathing so as to prevent being hungry and eating fats and complex carbohydrates. Any time an overweight person eats complex carbohydrates or fats, his body oxygen levels and breathing immediately become much worse. Furthermore, hunger for starches and fats indicate a state of stress and lower CP with higher heart rate.

What is the mechanism? Why can hyperventilation cause obesity?

According to Russian Buteyko research conducted by Russian medical doctors, CO2 is also responsible for control of permeability membranes of fat cells. When we hyperventilate, due to low CO2, glucose is driven from the blood into fat cells and blood glucose level naturally becomes low just due to hyperventilation alone. Since glucose is crucial for the brain and well-being, it is sensible to eat in a manner that increases blood sugar levels up to the norm. Eating more intensifies respiration and this leads to the formation of a vicious circle: hyperventilation drives glucose into fat cells; the person gets hungry; he eats more and ... hyperventilates more. Hence, over 70% people "naturally" gain weight when they hyperventilate.

Man running on beach Conversely, when people start to slow down their breath while practicing reduced breathing (especially with the DIY breathing device or the Frolov device), they naturally have less hunger and, if they start eating only when really hungry, they can easily lose weight. Physical exercise with only nasal breathing is another great way to fight obesity. These are the most natural methods or technique to lose weight and increase body oxygen levels. Moreover, breathing less makes obese people more alert and more energetic. All these factors make breathing retraining more advanced than other weight loss techniques.

Be observant. When we are acutely sick with flu, cold or other infection or disease, our CP probably decreases about 2 or more times from its usual level. What happens with your digestion? How would you feel if you were to eat your regular meal while sick? What would happen with your CP? Which meals and foods do you prefer when you are sick?

Questions. For primitive people, it was vital to defend themselves any time, day and night, including after meals. Could they be physically strong and mentally fit after meals if their usual CPs were about 20-25 s (as in a modern population)? What would you expect their usual CPs to be?

Breathing exercises. Constipation Pain Relief: How to relieve constipation pain using 1-2 minutes simple breath work.

Reference Web Pages: Breathing norms, Medical Graphs and Tables about Breathing Rates (Minute Ventilation) and Body Oxygen in Healthy, Normal and Sick People
Breathing norms Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
6 breathing myths 6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Hyperventilation Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
Hyperventilation Syndrome in the Sick. Table 1. Western scientific evidence about prevalence of CHV (chronic hyperventilation) in patients with various chronic conditions (34 medical studies)
Normal Minute Ventilation in Healthy Subjects: Easy and Light Breathing (14 Studies)
Hyperventilation Prevalence Present in Over 90% of Normal People (24 medical publications)
HV and hypoxia How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
Body oxygen test How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (a simple DIY test)
Body oxygen in healthy Table 4. CP (body oxygen level) in healthy people (27 medical studies)
Body oxygen in sick Table 5. CP (body oxygen level) in sick people (14 medical studies)
Buteyko Table of Health Zones with clinical description of most common zones
Morning HV Morning hyperventilation effect or how and why critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: CO2 Effects Web Pages
Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
The Bohr effect How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
Cell Oxygen Levels and oxygen transport are controlled by alveolar CO2 and breathing
Oxygen Transport depends on breathing and these two effects (Vasoconstriction-Vasodilation and the Bohr effect) are parts of two diagrams that summarize influences of hypocapnia (low CO2 content in the blood and cells) on circulation and O2 delivery
Free Radical Generation takes place due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia. Hence, antioxidant defenses of the human body are also regulated by CO2 and breathing
Inflammatory Response is controlled by breathing since hypoxia leads to or intensifies chronic inflammation through over-expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces these processes
Nerve stabilization takes place due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
Muscle relaxation or relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
Brochodilation - dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) by carbon dioxide, and their constriction due to hypocapnia
CO2: Best Natural Cough Suppressant and "home remedy" since it calms urge-to-cough nerve receptors located in the tracheobronchial tree and larynx
Blood pH regulation and regulation of other bodily fluids
CO2: Lung Damage Healer: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
CO2: Skin and Tissue Healer
Synthesis of Glutamine in the Brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
CO2 myth "CO2 is a toxic waste gas" myth
Breathing control How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven and erratic?

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