EVERYDAY LIFE
Hungrier, crosser
In a 2022 study, 64 adults rated hunger and mood five times a day for three weeks. Hungrier moments came with more anger and irritability.
See the numbers
WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS
Hungry,
or angry?
Everyone knows the feeling, and now there is a word for it.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines hangry as becoming angry because you are feeling hungry. Psychologists have started to test it, and the answer is yes, but with a twist: the situation, and whether you notice your hunger, seem to matter.
HANGRY hunger plus context
Check the moment- Hunger links to irritability
- Bad moments make it worse
- Noticing it helps
- A real effect, with a twist
THE SHORT ANSWER
Hunger nudges mood,
context steers it.
The link shows up in everyday life.
Lab work suggests it is not automatic.
CONTEXT
Bad moments tip it
In lab studies, hunger made people read ambiguous images more negatively, but only in negative contexts, not neutral or positive ones.
Check the moment
BLOOD SUGAR
Glucose is unclear
A popular idea says low glucose drains self-control. A 2016 analysis found the evidence for that glucose model is weak.
The glucose debateGeneral information only, not medical advice. For advice about your own health, speak to a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified health professional.
WHAT THE STUDIES SUGGEST
Three things
worth trying.
None of this is a treatment plan. These are simply the ideas the researchers themselves draw from their results.
Name the hunger
In the 2019 lab study, hunger turned into bad feelings only when people did not notice what was going on. Spotting that you are hungry may take the edge off.
Mind the moment
Hunger mattered most in negative situations. If a tense meeting or a long queue is coming, that is when an empty stomach is most likely to show.
Keep claims modest
The link is real in the studies, but the everyday sample was 64 people, mostly women in Austria, so it is best read as a link rather than proof of cause.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
A big effect,
in everyday life.
One figure from three weeks of mood reports,
one from a study of couples and blood sugar.
56%
Variance in irritability explained by hunger in the everyday study
From 9,142 responses by 64 adults over 21 days. The comparable figure for anger was 48%.
IRRITABILITY · PLOS ONE 2022
107 couples
Married couples who tracked glucose for 21 days
Lower glucose went with more pins stuck into a doll standing for their spouse, a lab measure of angry impulses.
BLOOD SUGAR · PNAS 2014
Sources: Swami et al., PLOS ONE (2022); Bushman et al., PNAS (2014). Both studies are correlational and rely on small or specific samples.
A QUICK MOMENT CHECK
How likely is
a hangry spell?
Pick the situation that sounds most like yours. The bar shows how strongly the research links that kind of moment to hunger turning into bad temper.
Based on MacCormack and Lindquist (2019) and Swami and colleagues (2022). General information about research findings, not medical or psychological advice.
THE GLUCOSE DEBATE
Low sugar,
short fuse?
A common explanation is that self-control needs energy from glucose, so low blood sugar leaves us short-tempered. A 2014 couples study found lower glucose went with more angry impulses and louder noise blasts in a game against a spouse.
But a 2016 analysis of the glucose experiments found possible publication bias and weak evidence, and said no conclusions should yet be drawn about glucose and self-control. The 2022 everyday study says it cannot tell the glucose idea and the context idea apart.
Questions
Questions people ask
Is hangry a real word?
Yes. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as becoming angry because you are feeling hungry, and psychologists now use it in study titles.
Does hunger really make people angrier?
In a 2022 study of 64 adults reporting their feelings five times a day for 21 days, greater hunger was linked with more anger and irritability and less pleasure, even after allowing for age, sex, body mass index, diet and trait anger.
Why am I only hangry some of the time?
Lab studies from 2019 suggest hunger tints mood mainly in negative situations, and mainly when people do not notice they are hungry. In neutral or positive settings the effect did not appear.
Is it about low blood sugar?
Possibly, but it is unsettled. A 2014 study linked lower glucose to angrier impulses in couples, while a 2016 analysis judged the evidence for glucose powering self-control to be weak.
Does eating stop me feeling hangry?
The studies did not test snacks as a remedy. They show hunger and bad mood go together and that context and awareness matter; anyone with ongoing mood or eating worries should talk to a GP.
Sources
- Swami et al. (2022) Hangry in the field: an experience sampling study, PLOS ONE
- MacCormack and Lindquist (2019) Feeling hangry? When hunger is conceptualized as emotion, Emotion
- Bushman et al. (2014) Low glucose relates to greater aggression in married couples, PNAS
- Vadillo, Gold and Osman (2016) The bitter truth about sugar and willpower, Psychological Science
- Cambridge Dictionary: hangry
Updated