Irritable, nothing can make you explode when the hunger pangs hit you? It is normal. Gilles Mittier, director of the Inserm nutrition laboratory, explains to us:
Have you ever felt that little song of irritability rise up in you when you were hungry? A kind of bad mood, tension, which comes from the stomach, which cries with hunger, and which makes the interlocutor understand that it is better not to look for you. You may be painful for those around you, but know that this is completely normal.
In the video, one in five deaths is linked to a poor diet
Survival instinct
The story is explained by the fact that the feeling of hunger is connected with anxiety. First, you should know that the part of the brain that regulates hunger and satiety, the hypothalamus, is also the part that regulates stress, anxiety, and mood. “Thus, when the hypothalamus is activated for one reason (hunger), it is also activated for other sensations associated with it (for example, irritability),” comments Gilles Mittier, director of the Inserm nutrition laboratory “Diabetes and brain”.
Fluctuations in our blood sugar levels, the level of sugar in the blood that allows cells to function, also play a role. “After eating, at the end of digestion, blood sugar starts to drop. This induces a feeling of hunger and biologically and mechanically activates the HPA hormone, which is specifically associated with stress,” explains Gilles Mittier.
In hunter-gatherer times, when people were hungry, it meant that there was a risk of death. At that time, it was necessary to feed quickly, and all this was a source of stress
Gilles Mithieux, Research Director Inserm
Why did stress need to come into play at this point? Because our brains have memorized a survival reflex that dates back to the hunter-gatherer era. “When the men were hungry, that meant their blood sugar was low and therefore at risk of dying,” reports Gilles Mithieux. So you have to eat fast, and all that was a source of stress.” It’s enough to raise your ‘science’ mark to justify that disapproving look you cast at your co-worker or colleague ten minutes before your lunch break.
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Source: Le Figaro
