Hunger may cause you to make bad life decisions
Feeling hangry? Maybe grab a sandwich before you make that important life-altering decision.
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According to a new study out of the University of Gothenburg, hormones released when you’re hungry may have a negative affect on your decision-making skills.
“For the first time, we have been able to show that increasing ghrelin to levels that are seen prior to meals or during fasting, causes the brain to act impulsively and also affects the ability to make rational decisions,” says Karolina Skibicka, docent at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.
It all comes down to hormones. When you’re hungry, your body produces ghrelin, a hormone that alerts your body that it’s time to eat. Sounds pretty normal except that when there’s an excess of ghrelin, the urgency becomes greater causing you to act more on impulse.
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Ever made a trip to the grocery store on an empty stomach? If so, that cart full of cookies, frozen pizza and items offering quick satisfaction are a sampling of what this impulse is all about.
Using rats, researchers played around with ghrelin levels and found that it played a huge role in the quality of decision making. Even when offered a greater reward for patience, rats with increased ghrelin levels were more impulsive, opting for quick gratification.
“Our results showed that restricting ghrelin effects to the ventral tegmental area, the part of the brain that is a crucial component of the reward system, was sufficient to make the rats more impulsive. Importantly, when we blocked ghrelin, the impulsive behavior was greatly reduced,” says Skibicka.
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But there’s more.
Along with decision making skills, scientists found that increased ghrelin levels could have long-term effects, linked to ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), autism spectrum disorder, drug abuse and even eating disorders.
“Our results indicate that the ghrelin receptors in the brain can be a possible target for future treatment of psychiatric disorders that are characterized by problems with impulsivity and even eating disorders,” says Skibicka.
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