Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here. Many of us are familiar with
Speaker 1: the feelings that low blood sugar produces. Crankiness sets in.
Speaker 1: Some of us get abusive, others downright hostile. Usually a
Speaker 1: glass of juice, a candy bar, or some other well
Speaker 1: timed snack clears this honest to goodness condition colloquially called
Speaker 1: being angry, a cross between hungry and angry. I call it.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry? But why does
Speaker 1: hanggar happen? Some people have good self control and others don't.
Speaker 1: In recent years, scientists have linked self control to nutrition.
Speaker 1: They say self control requires energy. If your body is
Speaker 1: mining for energy and finds done well, self control goes
Speaker 1: out the window. It all comes down to the amount
Speaker 1: of glucose our body's process. The human body is a
Speaker 1: machine made of meat. Like all machines, it needs fuel.
Speaker 1: That fuel comes in the form of glucose, a a
Speaker 1: blood sugar. Our bodies convert the carbohydrates and the foods
Speaker 1: we eat into glucose. The body then stores some of
Speaker 1: that glucose in the liver and muscles as glycogen and
Speaker 1: stores some as fat. When our blood sugar is low,
Speaker 1: the hypothalamus, the portion of the brain involved in hormone production,
Speaker 1: among other things, gets bent out of shape, throwing the
Speaker 1: body's hormones out of whack and suppressing serotonin. A neurotransmitter.
Speaker 1: Serotonin has a hand in controlling mood and appetite. It's
Speaker 1: often called the feel good neurotransmitter because it can relieve
Speaker 1: symptoms of depression and anxiety. If your body stops processing serotonin,
Speaker 1: your mood can shift. You can get tired or forget things.
Speaker 1: Your concentration becomes poor. You might even get angry. Still,
Speaker 1: your blood sugar has to drop like a rock, from
Speaker 1: seventy to a hundred milligrams per desilet to less than
Speaker 1: fifty five milligrams per DESI leader for the hangar games
Speaker 1: to begin. In a study published in the journal p
Speaker 1: n a S confirmed the people really do get hangry.
Speaker 1: The researchers studied whether low glucose levels were responsible for
Speaker 1: greater aggression in married couples. The scientists studied a hundred
Speaker 1: and seven couples and monitored their glucose levels twice a
Speaker 1: day for twenty one days to measure their aggressive impulses.
Speaker 1: The researchers asked each person to stick between zero and
Speaker 1: fifty one pins into a voodoo style doll representing their spouse,
Speaker 1: with more pins representing greater anger. When the three weeks
Speaker 1: were up, the researchers asked each couple to play a
Speaker 1: game designed to measure aggression. The scientists allowed the winner
Speaker 1: of the game to blast the loser with loud noise
Speaker 1: as both sat in separate chambers. There was a catch, however,
Speaker 1: each person wasn't actually turning up the volume. Regardless, those
Speaker 1: participants with low glucose levels believed they were hammering their
Speaker 1: spouses with high decibels of irritating noise. The authors concluded
Speaker 1: results suggest that interventions designed to provide individuals with metabolic
Speaker 1: energy might foster more harmonious couple interactions. In other words,
Speaker 1: eat some carbs before you argue. And this study was
Speaker 1: just one of several linking self control to glucose levels
Speaker 1: in the brain. Another study concluded that those who drank
Speaker 1: a beverage high in glucose were less aggressive than those
Speaker 1: who did not. Still, another study found an indirect relationship
Speaker 1: between diabetes, which is marked by poor glucose metabolism, aggressiveness
Speaker 1: and decreased self control. Although causation is always hard to
Speaker 1: pin down, these studies suggested that a spoonful of sugar
Speaker 1: helps diminish violent or aggressive behavior in the short term.
Speaker 1: Of course, consuming too much sugar and other simple carbohydrates
Speaker 1: can lead to poor glucose metabolism in the long run,
Speaker 1: so while a cookie maybe a quick fix if you
Speaker 1: need to focus, it's best overall to consume balanced meals
Speaker 1: and snacks containing enough protein and fats along with those
Speaker 1: sweet carbs to keep your blood sugar nice and even.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by John Paritano and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Playing Brains def has merchandise. Now you can contain
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Speaker 1: for more on this and lots of other even keeled topics,
Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com.