Discover the hangry phenomenon: a study investigating the effects of hunger on emotions, and whether it’s a real thing.
The concept of feeling “hangry” has become a well-established part of modern folklore. It refers to the experience of becoming irritable and quick-tempered when hungry. While some studies have shown that low blood sugar levels can make people more impulsive, angry, and aggressive, there has been little concrete evidence that this translates to real-life situations. However, new research has confirmed that the hangry phenomenon does genuinely exist in everyday life.
The Study: Investigating How Hunger Affects People’s Emotions
The study, published in the journal PLoS One, is the first to investigate how hunger affects people’s emotions on a day-to-day level. Led by Viren Swami, a professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, the research team recruited 64 participants from Central Europe who completed a 21-day program. They were prompted to report their emotions on a smartphone app five times a day. At each prompt, they reported their levels of hunger, anger, irritability, excitement, and arousal.
The Effects of Hunger: Anger, Irritability, and More
The participants rated their anger on a 5-point scale. The team noted that the effects of hunger are not limited to anger, so they also asked about irritability and, to gain a more comprehensive view of emotions, also about excitement and arousal. The researchers also asked about eating behaviors over the previous three months, including frequency of meals, snacking habits, healthy eating, feeling hungry, and dietary habits.
Real-Life Findings: Hunger is Linked to Negative Emotionality
The study found that hunger was associated with negative emotionality, including increased anger and irritability, and lower satisfaction, over a period of three weeks. The researchers noted that the use of the app allowed for data collection to take place in participants’ everyday environments, such as their workplace and home. The results were significant, even after taking into account demographic variables such as age and sex, body mass index, dietary behaviors, and individual personality characteristics.
Understanding the Hungry Brain: Not Everyone Can Tell When They’re Full
The majority of participants (55%) reported paying attention to hunger pangs, but only 23% reported knowing when they were full and stopping eating. 63% said they could tell when they were full but sometimes continued to eat. Few people (4.7%) reported not being able to tell when they were full. These findings suggest that understanding the complex interplay between hunger and satiety in the brain is key to managing eating behaviors and avoiding the negative effects of hunger.
Conclusion: Hunger Affects Our Emotions
The study provides concrete evidence that hunger does affect our emotions on a day-to-day level. The findings support the idea of being “hangry” and suggest that it is a real phenomenon. Understanding the emotional effects of hunger can help us better manage our eating behaviors and avoid negative consequences such as irritability and anger.
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