Anyone who hasn't eaten for a long time reacts quickly to irritation - this phenomenon is described by the term "hangry".
Researchers have now proven it.
Cambridge – Not only since the Snickers "You're not you when you're hungry" commercial has the assumption that hunger triggers a bad mood circulated.
With the term "hangry", the phenomenon has also entered the German language.
The word is a mix of "hungry" and "angry".
But researchers led by Viruses Swami from the British Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge have now been able to prove outside of laboratory conditions that this connection actually exists.
They evaluated the information provided by more than 60 adult volunteers who were asked about their feelings of hunger and emotional states such as anger, irritability and pleasure five times a day via an app over a period of 21 days.
It turned out that there is a clear connection between the feeling of hunger and negative feelings.
The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
"Hangry" study: Blood sugar levels may be related to emotions
It is not yet clear where exactly the reason for the connection lies.
One possible approach assumes that our brain is no longer able to control emotions to the same extent when blood sugar drops, explained the senior scientist Swami in an interview with the German Press Agency.
Another suggests that when we are hungry we react differently to external factors and find them more disturbing than after a meal.
"It's probably a complicated combination of both," Swami said.
However, he assumes that psychological factors play a greater role than blood sugar levels, whose influence in this context has been questioned by various studies.
Knowledge of the "hangry" phenomenon helps to classify one's own feelings
As a practical benefit, Swami sees the fact that one can classify one's feelings better if one is aware of the connection.
"When I'm angry, I have to look for the source of this anger," says the scientist.
But if he is "hangry", then it is enough to eat something.
However, Johann Christoph Klotter, Professor of Nutritional and Health Psychology at the Fulda University of Applied Sciences, doubts the meaningfulness of the study.
Because cause and effect cannot be separated in the connection between hunger and anger, Klotter explained to the German Press Agency.
Because, according to the retired scientist, hunger can also be an expression of anger.
(dpa)
