I know I am guilty of acting out while being hangry one too
many times and maybe you have too experience it in your life. Hangry is an amalgam of being hungry and
angry. It is when you let your inner
primitive beast out and you snap at the ones you love the most while in the
state of hunger. However, the science
behind it proves that it is not entirely your fault.
As humans, everything we eat is digested into simple sugars,
amino acids, and free fatty acids (think of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats
as our source). These nutrients then
travel through our bloodstream to our organs and tissues to be use as
energy. The amount of nutrients in our
blood declines over a period of time. As
more time passes after your last meal, your blood-glucose level can fall so low
that your brain perceives the situation to be life-threatening; thus, in comes
the state of hangry. While other organs
and tissues in your body can use a variety of nutrients as its energy source,
your brain is majorly dependent on glucose.
Low blood-glucose level can severely impact one’s concentration and
performance.
Furthermore, your brain compensate for low blood-glucose
level by instructing various organs in your body to synthesize and release hormones
that will increase the amount of blood glucose.
These hormones are defined as glucose counter-regulatory hormones and
can be found as growth hormone from the pituitary gland, glucagon from the
pancreas, and adrenaline from the adrenal glands. Specifically, adrenaline is the major hormone
responsible for the “fight or flight” response.
Therefore, while hangry, you may experience the need to shout at
someone.
Additionally, hunger is linked to anger through a common
gene. This gene codes for a product
known as neuropeptide Y. Neuropeptide Y stimulates
feeding behaviors and acts on numerous receptors in the brain including one called
Y1 receptor. Neuropeptide Y and the Y1
receptor regulate anger and aggression. Hence,
people with high levels of neuropeptide Y also exhibit high levels of impulse
aggression. Although it may not be
socially acceptable, physiologically, we cannot help the rage that is caused by
being hangry.
Do you think people are more hangry earlier or later in the day? According to this article, http://www.pnas.org/content/111/17/6254.long, people are less hangry at night. I find that strange because I thought glucose levels would be higher during the day and lower before bed assuming you don't sleep right after eating.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post, I started thinking about it in the opposite direction in which negative emotions are experienced, and people eating in response to those emotions. A study looked at this and found that participants were more self-motivated to eat during periods of negative emotions (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666300903258). These negative emotions resulted in the need to cope through eating, and in these times, subjects reported more intense bodily symptoms of hunger. I wonder if this is also due to neuropeptide Y or if it works through a different mechanism.
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