Study reveals what we already suspected: if we’re hungry, we’re not happy. So keep calm and eat
Photograph: Rich Legg/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Rich Legg/Getty Imagess this article already annoying you? I can only apologise. But also, may I ask whether you’ve skipped breakfast or lunch? Because that might explain it. You’re not really peevish. You’re just peckish.
Swami recruited volunteers to record both their emotions and hunger levels on a smartphone app, five times a day for three weeks. Which sounds like the sort of hard work that would make you ravenous. Psychologists concluded that hunger was associated with higher irritability and lower pleasure. “It turns out that being hangry is a real thing,” said Swami. Who presumably had just eaten or his tone would be markedly sharper.
While he doesn’t propose radical solutions, Swami thinks that simply being able to recognise the feeling can help. It’s called “effective labelling”. When we hear our stomach rumble ominously, like a dragon waking from its 1,000-year slumber, we can head off negative effects. Or in crude terms, “have a biscuit and shut up”. It’s about hanger management. Got a metaphorical chip on your shoulder? Try grabbing some literal chips.
It’s an adult version of the mental checklist that new parents go through with a crying baby. Are they hungry or thirsty? Tired or bored? Too hot or cold? Does their nappy need changing? You could do worse than apply those criteria to your own grown-up self. I’ll leave it up to your discretion whether to include the nappy one.
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