Scientists have finally proven what Snickers tried to warn us about nearly 10 years ago: being hangry IS a real thing.
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In one of the first ever studies to explore the phenomenon, researchers out of the UK found being hungry is linked with negative moods such as anger.
Viren Swami, social psychology professor at Anglia Ruskin University, led a team to investigate the validity of ‘hangry-ness’ after Viren’s own wife told him he was a grump when he was hungry.
“I have an interest in the effects of hunger and eating on our well-being and behaviours, so this seemed like a natural extension, especially as there has been very little research on the topic,” Viren told USA Today.
Scientists studied the mood and eating habits of 64 participants across Europe over a 21 day period. The participants were asked to record their hunger, anger, irritability, pleasure, and arousal five times a day.
The results were clear, people are miserable if they don’t eat. They’re hangry.
Hunger was associated with 37% of changes in irritability, 34% in anger and 38% in pleasure.
“We show, for the first time in a non-laboratory, real-world setting, that feeling hungry is associated with greater anger, irritability and lower levels of pleasure,” Viren said.
Interestingly the results were the same regardless of sex, age, diet or body mass index. Meaning, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re not you when you’re hungry.
It’s not understood exactly why we become hangry, however research suggests low glucose levels could be behind it.
“These results may have important implications for understanding everyday experiences of emotions, and may also assist practitioners to more effectively ensure productive individual behaviours and interpersonal relationships,” the study states.
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This means that we could all be better at avoiding conflict if we checked in on our hunger levels more often.
“Our findings also have important implications that touch on political, social and economic issues: No one should go hungry because of the negative outcomes of hunger,” Viren said.
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