Why do we get angry when we are hungry?

Published in the journal PLOS ONE, this is also the first study to investigate how hunger affects people's emotions on a daily basis.

'Hangry' - a meaning of 'hungry' (hungry) and angry (angry) is widely used in everyday language but the phenomenon has not been widely explored by science outside of the laboratory setting.

Being hungry is associated with greater feelings of anger and irritability.

The researchers recruited 64 adult participants from Central Europe, who recorded their hunger levels and various measures of emotion over a 21-day period.

Participants were prompted to report their feelings and levels of hunger on a smartphone app five times a day, allowing data collection to take place in the participants' daily environment, such as workplace and at home.

The results found that hunger was associated with greater feelings of anger and irritability, even when taking into account demographic factors such as age and sex, body mass index, diet and personal personality. Volunteers reported feeling 37% more irritable and 34% more angry when hungry, while happiness levels were 38% lower.

Study lead author Viren Swami, Professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: 'Many of us are aware that hunger can affect emotions but surprisingly Very few scientific studies focus on this. While our study doesn't offer ways to reduce negative emotions caused by hunger, it does show that recording emotions can help people adjust."

According to experts, if your blood glucose levels drop too much, your brain will perceive this to be a life-threatening situation. Unlike most other organs and tissues in the body that can use nutrients to function, your brain is completely dependent on glucose to function.

This dependence is not difficult to recognize: when you have trouble concentrating and are prone to making silly mistakes, suddenly slurred or confused, you are hungry and your glucose levels drop.

Previously, according to research results published in IFLScience, the link between hunger and anger is both controlled by genes. The product of one such gene is neuropeptide Y, a natural brain chemical that is released in your brain when you're hungry. It stimulates voracious behavior by activating many sensory receptors in the brain, including a receptor called Y1.

Besides acting in the brain to control hunger, neuropeptide Y and receptor Y1 regulate anger or aggression. People with high levels of neuropeptide Y in their cerebrospinal fluid also tended to experience unexpected tantrums.

Although many physical factors contribute to anger and frustration when hungry, psychosocial factors also have a significant impact. For example, culture influences whether you display aggression directly or indirectly.