How hunger impacts hormones to to turn on action circuits in the brain
A hungry man is an angry man — as they say!
Yes, and this may also apply to women, but the point is that hunger changes the way we process information to make different decisions.
Has this actually been proven?
Well, as I keep pointing out — if we feel something is different, it normally means something is happening in our brain. There is lots of evidence on how hunger changes our decision-making but this recent research is interesting because it found a mechanism in the brain that directs decision-making.
And what was that?
This research into hungry mice showed that the hunger hormone Ghrelin puts the brakes on decision making and action in a part of the hippocampus. The hippocampus comes up often in research, and if you’ve read my other posts. This is because it is a part of the brain that is critical for memory — and this particular area of the brain that the researchers identified is important in linking memories to action.
In this case the action of eating.
But obviously, if you’re hungry, you want to eat more!
