Food and Mood: Why Do People Get Hangry?

Many people have experienced the way hunger can make them feel impatient, annoyed, or short tempered. And perhaps even more people have been on the receiving end of a hangry episode — when a friend or partner is suddenly not quite acting like themselves. 

Hunger can have a big effect on your thinking and behavior. We’ll look at what happens in your body when you're feeling this way — and why it matters. 

Why do people get hangry?

Hunger affects mood centers in the brain that are associated with sadness, tension, anger, and even low self-esteem. There’s a lot of evidence to show that hunger makes you more likely to see things negatively. Now researchers are trying to get a better understanding of what actually changes in the brain to cause this mood shift.

When you’re low on energy, a number of changes happen inside the body and brain that affect the way you think, feel, and act. Many of these changes happen because of two hormones your body releases when you’re hungry — ghrelin and cortisol.

1. Ghrelin

When your stomach is empty, it releases a hormone called “ghrelin.” This hormone sends a signal to a specific part of the brain that makes you think, “I am hungry, I need to get some food.” 

Researchers are learning new ways that ghrelin activates many more areas of the brain. It actually has a big effect on brain function. Studies show that increased levels of ghrelin directly affect:

• Mood, including symptoms of depression and anxiety

• Low impulse control

• Reward-seeking behavior (through a similar pathway that fuels addiction)

• Impaired learning and memory

• Feelings associated with psychological stress

• Disturbed sleep/wake cycle 

In other words, ghrelin does a lot more than just make you think “I am hungry.” It affects powerful brain pathways that change the way you feel, think, and perceive the world. 

2. Cortisol

When your blood sugar starts to drop, your body releases “stress hormones” — like cortisol and adrenaline. (Ghrelin also causes your body to release these hormones). Stress hormones have played an important role in human survival — they trigger pathways that keep your blood sugar within normal range until you can finally find food. 

They also have a significant effect on mood and behavior. Specifically, they trigger the “fight-flight-freeze” response in your brain. So even if it's been just a few hours since your last meal, your brain perceives the situation as an immediate life threat. And that can bring on feelings of fear and panic, a shift in focus and concentration, and a sudden change in behavior.

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Researchers still are not sure why only some people get hangry and others seem less affected by hunger. Similar to people's experiences with mental health, we’re all a little different in the way our brain responds to changes in hormone levels. But more research is needed to understand exactly why some people are more susceptible to hangry episodes than others.

The good news is that when you finally eat, these hormone levels tend to return to normal, and you go back to feeling like your normal self.

Tips to avoid getting hangry 

To avoid the downward spiral of emotions when you’re hangry, the solution seems obvious: eat. But in our busy lives, this can be easier said than done. And some people will get hangry before they even feel the physical sensation of being hungry. 

The best way to avoid becoming hangry is to stay in tune with your body and its warning signs for a hangry episode. One study showed that simply identifying that you may be hangry helps you better regulate negative emotions if they happen. And when asked to do an exercise to get in touch with their emotions, people were less likely to experience anger when they were hungry.

So try to pay attention to times you start to feel suddenly irritable, tired, or have trouble concentrating on the task at hand. Even if you don’t feel obvious hunger, a small snack may have a surprising effect on reversing these feelings.

Here are some more tips on how to avoid hangry episodes:

• Try your best to eat at regular intervals, and avoid going long periods without eating. This may mean prepacking a meal or snacks for the road.

• Eat breakfast. Studies have shown that people perform better if they eat breakfast, particularly one that’s higher in protein. 

• Make sure your meals and snacks contain protein and complex carbohydrates. These take longer to digest and keep your blood sugar levels more constant for longer periods of time. So you’re less likely to become hangry.

• Avoid foods with refined or processed sugar — like sodas, candy, sweets, and cereals. Your body breaks down these foods very quickly, and that spikes blood sugar. But your body very quickly stores that sugar for later. When this happens, you’ll start to feel hungry again.

• If you start to feel emotional, irritable, or impatient, check in with yourself. Ask if this may be hanger rather than the situation at hand. 

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Written by:

Jill L. Jaimes, MD

Jill L. Jaimes, MD, is a board-certified pediatric emergency medicine physician with over 20 years of clinical experience. She received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed her residency and fellowship training at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Edited by:

Katie E. Golden, MD

Katie E. Golden, MD, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and a medical editor at GoodRx.

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