The Science of Being “Hangry”

While previous research has been done on the links between hunger and mood, the first study specifically on “hanger”—the feeling of anger because you’re hungry—has been conducted.

“In some non-human species, food deprivation has been shown to increase motivations to engage in aggression to gain food resources," said the study’s lead author, Professor Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom. "In humans, hunger has been examined in relation to mood and behavioral difficulties, especially in children, but results have been mixed.”

The researchers asked 64 adults to record both their emotions and hunger levels at several points throughout the day over a three-week period. The researchers found that fluctuations in anger, irritability, and unpleasantness were strongly linked with hunger, with hunger being responsible for 34% of the variation in feelings of anger and 37% of the variation in feelings of irritability.

The reason hunger makes us more irritable is still unknown. It could be linked to low blood sugar levels, which previous research has shown to increase impulsivity and aggression. It could also affect a person's self-control and regulation, which some say triggers negative emotions like anger.

“Although our study doesn’t present ways to mitigate negative hunger-induced emotions, research suggests that being able to label an emotion can help people to regulate it, such as by recognizing that we feel angry simply because we are hungry," said Swami.