Do you feel irritated on days when you skip your breakfast? Or do you find this continuous shift in your energy, mostly towards being negative an hour before dinner? Then this must be a sign that you are “hangry!” A situation where you are angry because you probably skipped your last meal. Are you keen on discovering the Why, What, and How part? This write-up will offer all the required answers, but before that, it’s important to find out the “relation between hunger and emotions.”
Is Being Hangry A Real Thing?
While most people do not take the term ‘hangry’ to be a serious thing, it is Prof Viren Swami who did try and establish the real worth of the same. Swami devised a study plan with professors from Malaysia and Austria, recruiting 64 respondents aged between 18 and 60 and recording their feelings of hunger 5 times daily for the next three weeks. The volunteers went through their regular lifestyle while the relation between hunger and emotions was studied in the lab.
The outcomes did show that hunger affects the level of anger, irritability, and pleasure in humankind. Which makes it turn out that being ‘hangry’ is a real thing. The study never proposed any solid solutions to being “hangry.” However, it helped Swami and his team recognize the emotion one goes through when hungry. Besides, what is there which triggers anger within the person?
The Relation Between Hunger And Emotions – Why Do You Get Hangry?
After you have your food in proportionate amounts, your gastrointestinal (GI) tract (stomach and intestines) breaks them down. Thus releasing the proper sugar (glucose) levels in your blood. However, skipping your meals will cause the glucose level to deplete, increasing the sense of irritability.
The increase in irritation is linked with certain hormones, along with adrenaline, which gets released when the blood sugar levels are low.
As part of your body’s flight or fight response, there is a big boost in the adrenalin levels, making you feel all the emotions like anxiety, anger, panic, and stress all at once. And this being continued for a considerable period will make you ‘hangry’ over the slightest inconvenience.
A Case Study Of Hunger Increasing Negative Emotions And Decreasing Positive Emotions
As part of the case study, women with healthy BMI were assigned to various eating conditions – hungry and satiated. The primary intention was to find out whether women trying to control their food portions – instead are getting entangled in the vicious cycle of negative emotions and hunger. Also, how sub-clinical eating disorder plays an important part in depicting the mental health of women who consume food in the right amounts.
The women responded to the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and the Profile of Mood States within a laboratory situation. Those who were hungry reported higher levels of negative emotions – anger, tension, confusion, and fatigue and low levels of positive emotions. Among the ones having their meals in the right quantity, it was their eating disorders affecting their self-esteem.
As per the case study’s findings, food restriction leads to the rise of negative emotions in women. Thus, affecting one’s mental well-being and regular behavior in the long run. Secondly, eating disorders trigger negative mental health in women not restricted by a fixed quantity of food.
Food has a huge role, whether you are ‘hangry’ or low mood. The diet you consume has all the essentials to imply your mental health rather than only taking a toll on you physically. That way, it is always important to watch what you eat and work towards building healthy dietary habits.
