how come fresh turkey makes you sleepy while turkey lunch meat doesn't?

Tryptophan is the chemical in turkey that "causes" drowsyness.

Your body turns the trytophan into serotonin, your natural sleep-inducing hormone.

But, if the Pineal Gland doesn't convert it into serotonin, it doesn't make you drowsy. Your pineal gland won't convert if your biological clock says it is not time yet to sleep.

Also, it has more to do with what else, and how much, you ate with the turkey. On Thanksgiving, you eat a ton of food (mostly carbohydrates, although a source of energy, enhances the effect of tryptophan through some very complicated biological voodoo) and eating a lot of food by itself will make you drowsy and your piteal gland will convert the tryptophan since it is usually almost time to sleep anyway.

So, lunch-time isn't sleep time so your body ignores the tryptophan in lamest terms. To read the entire head spinning article refer to wikipedia.com .

Because fresh turkey contains triptophane (sp?) that makes you sleepy. Lunch meat is processed to the point that it contains nothing that resembles natural food.

never had a favourite meat! I never ever cared much for it but I did like the convenience of pogo sticks! When I worked 18 hours aday that was what I ate cause I was too tired to cook and only had 5 hours to sleep and 1 hour to get to work! I was doing one 10-12 hour shift and a part time job of 4-6 hours! 2 jobs in one day! Did that for 6 months! I don't miss the pogo sticks. Haven't found any vegetarian pogo sticks but am looking for them!

fresh turkey has a natural occuring chemical called Altriptophane, which raises the Saratonin levels in your brain and that, in turn, makes one sleepy

processing the turkey meat removes a lot of that chemical

you know that's a very good question i would think that is the process the way they process the meat to make it into lunch meat meanwhile when is fresh there is not that much preparation,

because theres cocaine in turkey lunch meat.

IT'S NOT JUST THE FRESH TURKEY IT'S ALL THE TRIMMINGS SUCH AS GRAVEY,MASHED POTATOES AND ALL THE OTHER VEGIES THAN YOU HAVE PUMPKIN PIE WITH WHIP CREAM AND LAST THE WINE

It's a conspiracy. Soon to be a new Oliver Stone movie.