Hangry, hangry hippo

A while back, my sister introduced me to the idea of being "hangry." Hangry is a slang term for being so hungry, you get mad.

Hungry + Angry = Hangry

Droopy, our first rabbit. His default mood was HANGRY.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, they're probably blessed with never letting their hunger get the best of them. I think everyone gets hangry at least once a week. For me, it normally happens when I'm at work and accidentally missed my clockwork lunch time. If it's past 12:30, I get hangry. This week I've been really hangry, oftentimes snapping at MOH, who poor soul contracted H. pylori. Hangry is a real thing and recently, there's actually been science to back it up.

In a journal article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers noted that couples experienced "hangry" feelings when their blood glucose levels were low. To assess aggression, individuals had to do two tasks:

1. Depending on happiness with spouse, participants were asked to pin anywhere from 0-51 pins into a voodoo doll that was supposed to represent their significant other. The more angry you are with your spouse, the more pins the doll gets.

Voodoo doll (photo courtesy of BeatrixBellibaste)

2. Every night play a video game against their spouse such that the winner is able to blare a sound at the loser. The sound contained mixtures of unpleasant noises (nails on chalkboard, sirens, honks), and could be done at varying intensities, depending on their discretion. Although the participants were instructed that they were playing against their spouses, in reality, the participants were playing against a computer, presumably to prevent the loser from getting too much hearing damage.

Sirens: probably one of the loudest sounds around

What they found wasn't surprising, but confirmed the idea of being "hangry." The lower the blood glucose levels, the more apt the spouse was to stick the dolls with tons of pins, and blast the "loser" with obnoxious sounds.

I can totally relate to these findings. Married or not, no one can deny how much more crazy they can get when they're hungry. When you're on the road and lost, the sense of hopelessness of knowing where you are is only compounded by the raging battle going on in your stomach. Or how much harder it is to concentrate in class when all you can think about is what to eat for dinner. Or how difficult it is to take care of someone and not snap when you're running on low energy AND haven't had your dinner yet (sorry MOH - I should have eaten some rice before taking care of you). It's a neverending battle between our gut and our emotions. 

As common of a problem as hangry is, it can easily be remedied - you just need something filling enough to get you by. Don't opt for some greens, get something hearty. My quick trick to getting rid of being hangry? Chocolate. Good, dark chocolate. Dark chocolate in green yogurt, or dark chocolate with peanut butter. An antioxidant with some good sugary creamy goodness, and you'll feel your hangry get eaten alive.

Bite size pieces of heaven - dark chocolate covered peanut cups from Trader Joes

Until next time, happy eating everything!

References:
Bushman BJ et al., 2014. Low glucose relates to greater aggression in married couples. PNAS. 2014 April 14