Why do I feel sleepy after taking Chinese medicine?

Normally, people often feel sleepy when they take cold medicine or when they are sick. I didn’t expect that I would feel sleepy after taking Chinese medicine. Is the sleepiness after taking Chinese medicine due to drinking too much or too little? Chinese medicine also has side effects and adverse reactions. Although the side effects and adverse reactions of Chinese medicine are relatively few, the causes of sleepiness may also include some other factors.

Daily knowledge

Why do I feel sleepy when I study or work, but never sleepy when I play?

Feeling sleepy is a sign of physical and mental fatigue. In fact, playing does not lead to fatigue. Under normal circumstances, as long as you put the same attention into playing, studying or working, you will feel tired and sleepy after a period of time. The only difference is that in most cases, you will feel tired during studying or working, but you will feel tired after playing.

Take computer games as an example. Various rewards will appear continuously during the game, such as experience, equipment, etc. The feedback from these games makes people feel happy, which then promotes the release of related neurotransmitters in the brain, such as dopamine, increases neural excitability, and makes people willing to keep playing to maintain this neural excitement.

The stimulation of most games will also promote the release of certain hormones in the body, such as adrenaline, which will speed up the heartbeat and enhance metabolism. This will allow blood to be more efficiently transported to the brain and muscles, ensuring oxygen content, removing metabolic waste, and keeping people energized.

Other entertainment activities besides games have more or less similar effects. But once the recreational activity is over and the stimulating feedback disappears, you will soon feel the fatigue caused by the loss of energy caused by maintaining nervous excitement and physical tension.

This is not the case with study and work. The rewards in the process of study and work cannot be obtained immediately, and the effect often takes a long time to manifest. Especially when one is not very interested in the content and is just doing it to cope with it, it is difficult to generate enough stimulation for the body, so one will gradually feel tired.

The solution is also very simple, just introduce stimulating feedback artificially during the learning and working process. For example, if you divide your goal into steps, each time you complete a stage, you will feel the joy of completing a task; or you can give yourself a proper reward, such as taking a break after completion, or having a good meal. For example, sharing your experiences with others, telling friends about what you have just learned and the progress at work, and getting feedback from others can be considered a good way to relieve fatigue.