To be healthy and energetic, we need to eat at least three times a day: morning, afternoon and evening. Food provides us with calories and nutrients that are needed for the functioning of all internal organs. Food is also very important for tissue repair and the functioning of the immune system. If we do not eat, we will become sluggish and begin to think slowly. A healthy person can go without food for a maximum of one week, and by the end of this period he will become thin as a matchstick, because the body will use up all its fat reserves to get energy from somewhere. If we do not have enough energy, we begin to feel hungry. Have you ever wondered how our body signals us about this?
When we are hungry, a huge number of complex processes occur in the body. Source: mk.ru
Contents
- 1 Feelings of hunger and satiety
- 2 How the feeling of hunger arises
- 3 How to understand that you are hungry
- 4 How the feeling of satiety comes
- 5 Why you want to eat often and a lot
Feelings of hunger and satiety
There is an excellent article on the Rospotrebnadzor website about human eating behavior. In terms of nutrition, a person has only two states: hunger and satiety. In a state of hunger, our body makes us look for food, and the feeling of satiety tells us that there is already enough food, and we need to stop.
Without feelings of hunger and satiety, we would not last long. Source: econet.ru
How the feeling of hunger arises
When a person is hungry, many biochemical processes occur in their body. They are needed to tell us that the body's energy will soon be running out, and we need to urgently eat something.
For example, when we don't eat for a long time, our blood sugar level drops. Our brain understands this because glucose is its main source of energy. If we don't eat for a long time, we start to think worse.
When we are hungry, our blood composition changes slightly. Source: rlegroup.net
When the stomach is empty, the body increases the levels of ghrelin hormones. A signal about this is sent to the hypothalamus – a small part of the brain that is responsible for many processes in the body, including appetite regulation.
How to understand that you are hungry
The brain receives signals that the body does not have enough energy. What next?
After receiving signals, we begin to feel the manifestations of hunger – the body literally pushes us to search for food.
First of all, a hungry person feels weak and even slightly dizzy, which is a consequence of a lack of sugar in the blood. We also experience slight nausea and the most common sign of hunger – rumbling in the stomach. It occurs because the walls of the stomach contract, and there is nothing inside it – only gases move. Sometimes rumbling in the stomach occurs not only because of hunger.
Grumbling in the stomach is the main sign of hunger. Source: freepik.com
A hungry person also becomes irritable, he has obsessive thoughts about more. In this cunning way, our brain makes us look for food even faster, this is literally a manifestation of the instinct of self-preservation. If it were not for the feeling of hunger and its manifestations, people would definitely live much less. We would have to set reminders on our smartphones that we need to chew on something.
Read also: What happens to a person after a week of fasting
How does the feeling of satiety come
So, when we want to eat, hormones send signals to the brain about this, and it makes us look for food. We find it, eat it, and then feel full. How does the body let us know that it's time to stop eating?
When we eat, food enters the stomach and its walls begin to stretch. They are covered with nerve endings that transmit signals to the brain that the stomach is filling. The signals are transmitted through the vagus nerve, which plays an important role in regulating appetite.
Feeling full is pure bliss. Source: freepik.com
Also, the feeling of satiety is signaled by the normalization of all the hormones mentioned above that are responsible for hunger. And in a well-fed person, the level of the hormone leptin increases. As a result, we have a feeling of satisfaction, and the feeling of hunger that tormented us disappears.
It is important to note that the feeling of satiety does not occur instantly, it takes about 20 minutes. Therefore, it is recommended to eat slowly to avoid overeating.
A very interesting study: Is it possible to satisfy hunger just by looking at photos of food?
Why do you want to eat often and a lot?
Some people suffer from the fact that three meals a day are not enough for them. Constant hunger can be associated with a number of different factors.
Some people eat more than usual, which can lead to health problems. Source: aif.ru
The most likely and normal reason is heavy physical labor. If a person is constantly on his feet, lifting weights or going to the gym, he spends a huge amount of energy. Therefore, it is not surprising that the body asks for more food to make up for the lack of strength.
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Sometimes the cause of constant hunger is hormonal imbalances. For example, a person has problems with the above-mentioned ghrelin and leptin. Most often, this kind of disorder is due to stress and lack of sleep.