BrainStuff Classics: Why Do We Feel Hungry When We're Not?

Feeling hungry doesn't just happen when our bodies need calories, and there's no one way that we feel hunger to begin with. Learn why in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/why-feel-hungry-even-when-not.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren vogle bam here, And this is a
classic brain Stuff episode. This one deals with the feeling
of wanting to eat. It's a strange one because it's
both physical and psychological and can present really differently in
different people. Here's how it works, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren

(00:25):
Vogel bam here. If you're anything like me and you
were to keep track of some of your thoughts during
a given day, Gosh, I'm hungry would appear on the
list a few times, along with perhaps why am I
keeping track of my thoughts? But why do we often
feel hungry? Let's be clear, we're not talking about actual

(00:46):
starvation or hunger as a pervasive global and social issue,
which it is and is a whole other episode or seven.
We're talking about hunger in typically healthy people with comfortable
access to food. The hunger that are rises from the
physiological need for nutrients to survive. Hormones and the nervous
system regulate hunger and eating habits. But how the heck

(01:08):
do we recognize when we want to eat even when
we actually don't need food. We spoke via email with
Richard Stevenson a professor of psychology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia,
where he studies human eating behavior. He says that hunger
is by no means a universally identifiable sensation. He wrote,

(01:29):
unlike fulness, which there is no mistaking, hunger is very varied.
It is not a consistent sensation across people, and it
has been claimed that feeling stressed can be confused with it.
Even some of the biological functions that people associate with
hunger growling stomach, for instance, aren't entirely fool proof cues.
Stevenson said many people do not report stomach sensations when

(01:52):
asked to describe what being hungry is like. Indeed, reports
show that people cite headaches, weakness, mouth watering, and other
non stomach related sensations as signs of hunger. Stevenson has
also done research that indicates feelings of hunger and fullness
are influenced by a myriad of factors, including genetic and
psychological differences like depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Then there's

(02:16):
a really big factor. Our environment can easily convince us
into thinking it's time to eat, whether we're hungry or not.
Stevenson said that seeing, smelling, or even thinking about food
will trick us into believing that our stomach is crying
out for nutrients. He pointed out that this is why
advertisements for food products work so well, and that affects

(02:38):
not just appetite, but how much food we actually consume.
A two thousand nine studies show that both children and
adults eat more snacks after exposure to food advertising, and
review found that food ads significantly increase unhealthy food intake
in children. In fact, researchers coined the term hedonic hunger

(02:58):
to describe the drive food consumption unrelated to the need
for calories. This phenomenon might also give us a clue
to another mystery of hunger. How can we claim ourselves
ravenous only to find after time passes or a distraction
interrupts whatever triggered the hunger pang that hunger has passed
us by. Stevenson says this waning hunger could be related

(03:22):
to the idea that our appetite isn't always activated by
an actual need for calories, and that quote time is
a potent queue to eat. If you usually eat at
midday and you miss this, you will feel hungry if
you notice the time. So what's the trick to deciding
whether you're truly hungry? Is there a scientific method for
being able to push away at bowl of chips that

(03:43):
you don't need? Stevenson said in a word, no. Most
of our biological machinery is geared to make us eat
when we see food or things that remind us of food,
which was terrific for our ancient ancestors when humans had
to spend a lot of time searching for energy sources.
But it might leave us at a disadvantage when surrounded
by a huge spread of snacks right after a filling meal.

(04:10):
Today's episode is based on the article why we feel
hungry even when we're not on how stuff works dot com,
written by Kate Kirshner. Brain Stuff is production of by
Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com,
and it's produced by Tyler Clay. Or more podcasts my
heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
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