We’ve all been there – so hungry that we’re angry. A glucose-deprived brain could be to blame for your terrible mood. The early evening hours are the most dangerous time for this pitiful mood because the workday is done, but dinner isn’t on the table yet. This is the prime time for people to get “hangry,” a frightening combination of hungry and angry.
Your brain needs fuel to regulate your emotions, and people often feel more angry or aggressive when they are hungry. Anger often goes with hungry because anger is the emotion people have the most trouble regulating.
Glucose is your brain’s primary fuel, and your body manufactures it with the food you eat. The human brain is a very greedy organ when it comes to fuel consumption. It only constitutes 2% of a person’s body weight, but it uses 20% to 30% of the energy you consume!
Why do people get hangry more often in the evening, but not in the morning after going all night without food? Your willpower and self-control are finite resources that will be dwindling by the end of the day. This can make a bad mood even worse.
Hangry can spell trouble for anyone who lives with you. You are more likely to lash out at the people you feel the most comfortable with when your brain is struggling to control its emotions. Your spouse, family, and friends will be the ones who endure the worst of what your glucose-starved brain has you throw at them.
There is an even deeper reason that your emotions can go out of control when you are hungry. The appetite hormones that tell your brain it’s time to eat also spark up the brain regions tied to anxiety and stress. In some regions of the brain, hunger, anxiety, and stress overlap.
This makes sense from a biological perspective. As an animal, you need food to survive. It is natural for you to feel anxious and irritable until you meet your need to eat, and it keeps you from ignoring your need for food and starving to death!
The stress and hunger intersection goes both ways. When you are feeling anxiety or tension, you are more likely to reach for energy dense foods.
People deal with hunger differently. Some may have no trouble staying calm before dinner, but others can become explosively angry when their brains become too deprived of glucose.
Fortunately, there is an easy fix for hangry because all you have to do is eat something. We believe one of the best and fastest solutions is pizza! A delicious pizza from Sardella’s will cheer you right up and cure your hangries faster than you can say pepperoni! Please visit us today.
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