There’s no question we are obsessed with food. We track what we eat, avoid eating, eat irregularly, eat like mice or eat like a ravenous dog. When we get hungry, we sometimes get grumpy, which leads to becoming hangry.
Many people feel more irritable, annoyed, or negative when hungry – an experience colloquially called being “hangry.” The idea that hunger affects our feelings and behaviors is widespread – from advertisements to memes and merchandise. But surprisingly little research investigates how feeling hungry transforms into feeling hangry.
Source: The Conversation, June 11, 2018. Link.
Research findings suggest that feeling hangry occurs when your hunger-induced negativity gets blamed on the external world around you. This seems to be a fairly unconscious process: People don’t even realize they’re making these attributions. Study data suggest that paying attention to feelings may short circuit the hangry bias – and even help reduce hanger once you notice it.
INSIGHTS: Author, Jennifer MacCormack offers three pro tips to help keep your hunger from going full-blown hangry:
- Pay more attention to your hunger
- Plan ahead. Carry healthy snacks and eating breakfast and lunch
- Set yourself reminders to eat regularly