Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb here with a classic
Speaker 1: podcast episode for you. This one goes into the science,
Speaker 1: and there is real science behind what hanger is and
Speaker 1: how you can combat it. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel
Speaker 1: bomb here. Many of us are familiar with the feelings
Speaker 1: that low blood sugar produces. Crankiness sets in. Some of
Speaker 1: us get abusive, others downright hostile. Usually a glass of juice,
Speaker 1: a candy bar, or some other well timed snack clears
Speaker 1: this honest to goodness condition colloquially called being angry, a
Speaker 1: cross between hungry and angry. I call it. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: like me when I'm hungry? But why does hangar happen?
Speaker 1: Some people have good self control and others don't. In
Speaker 1: recent years, scientists have linked self control to nutrition. They
Speaker 1: say self control requires energy. If your body is mining
Speaker 1: for energy and finds done while self control goes out
Speaker 1: the window. It all comes down to the amount of
Speaker 1: glucose our body's process. The human body is a machine
Speaker 1: made of meat. Like all machines, it needs fuel. That
Speaker 1: fuel comes in the form of glucose a k 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 DESI leader to less
Speaker 1: than fifty five milligrams per DESI leader for the Hangar
Speaker 1: Games to begin in April. Study published in the journal
Speaker 1: p n a S confirmed the people really do get angry.
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: eats 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 increased 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 poorer 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 can hating enough protein and fats along with
Speaker 1: those sweet carbs to keep your blood sugar nice and even.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article is Hanger a
Speaker 1: Real Emotion on how stuff Works dot com written by
Speaker 1: John Partano. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and it
Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Clang. For more podcasts my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.