Let's get one thing out of the way: being hangry is a legitimate thing and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Studies conducted among married couples showed that the more hungry the couple was, the angrier they felt towards their partner.
"It varies by every individual," said Dr. Adimoolam. "But the lower your blood sugar goes, the hangrier you are. It's our body's defense mechanism to get food ASAP."
There are ways to avoid hanger, of course.
"Carry healthy snacks with you"”like vegetables, fruit, and yogurt"”so that when you are hungry [they] will hold you over until the next meal," says Dr. Adimoolam.
But instead of solving my problems like an adult, I'm just going to complain about why being hangry is the worst. Anyone else who experiences this intense emotion will get it.
1. You get snippy.
Hangry is the combination of hungry and angry, so it makes sense that one of the biggest side effects is being snippy. There are no manners when you're hangry.
Questions are answered as bluntly as possible, jokes are not funny, nothing is okay until you get a snack.
2. You get tired.
It's not the same type of tired as needing sleep, though. It's the type of tired that makes you feel like you've been running a marathon for 50 years with no break. Your body is heavy, you feel weak all over, it's just not a good feeling.
3. Everyone is 100% more irritating.
Somehow when you're hungry, everyone seems to ask the dumbest questions or do the dumbest things. It's not your fault that they can't figure things out themselves, and yet you somehow get caught dealing with it.
Remember that anger we talked about earlier? It often comes into play here.
4. You cannot focus.
When you're hangry, simple tasks take decades to accomplish. All you can think about is getting food inside of you, but the only way you can do that is if you finish what you're doing, and the only way you can do that is if you eat and...I think you get the picture.
5. People avoid you.
If you're like me, people can sense when you're hangry. They survey my desk to see if my lunch has already appeared and if it hasn't it's probably best to wait until I've eaten to ask me anything.
They can also tell when you're going to get hangry, if you're out and about with no food in sight, and they'll either suggest everyone goes home or try and find a place to eat really quickly.
6. Your self-control is gone.
You could be on the healthiest diet in the world, but once you get hangry, all bets are off. A full box of crackers? Done. Four peanut butter sandwiches? Why not!
Self-control is a thing of the past when you haven't eaten enough. You triple your portions and don't care enough to stop yourself.
7. You spend too much money.
I learned the hard way that grocery shopping while hungry wastes more money than you could even imagine. You all of a sudden are buying food to feed the entire neighborhood for six months, and the reality is you'll eat four bites of dinner, feel full, and never eat the other stuff you bought.
8. Your schedule changes.
Once you can nail down when you get hangry most often, you work everything else around that.
"Ya, we can totally go shopping at 3pm! But we'll either need to have a late lunch or an early dinner."
It can also derail your entire day. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a rush and had to rearrange my plans to get food.
9. Everything is an inconvenience.
I was hangry once and I dropped my pen and almost started crying. I wish that was a joke. It's not. Emotionally, being hangry is very similar to PMSing in my experience.
Small things become giant mountains to climb, and you have to do it on an empty stomach.
10. You consider eating anything.
Yes, anything. That Ziploc baggy of pretzels sitting in your car from three weeks ago is fair game. The granola bar someone has left in the communal cupboard at work could mysteriously go missing and no one would care. It's all about satisfying your stomach in the moment, and not worrying about future consequences.
