I constantly keep an eye out for blog-inspiring material. Sometimes the
inspiration comes from quotes or philosophical quotes that someone posts on
Facebook. Other times the inspiration comes from a social event or a personal
experience. Today’s inspiration came in the format of a radio discussion during
the “Tech Talk” segment of the Gary and Shannon show on KFI AM 640. To my excitement,
hosts Gary
Hoffmann and Shannon
Ferren discussed why people get “hangry” with Neil Saavedra, who hosts The Fork Report
every weekend.
The first time I ever heard the expression, “hangry,” was in a 2014
television advertisement for American
Express. In the ad, writer/performer Tina Fey stuffs a handful of potpourri
into her mouth while paying for some groceries and explaining to the cashier
how she gets angry when she is hungry. Similarly, the following year featured actress/performer
Florence Henderson in a Snickers®
Super Bowl advertisement in which The Brady Bunch mom encouraged
daughter Marcia to eat a Snickers® bar because the teen gets “hostile” when she’s
hungry.
Hunger—which is the most obvious “symptom” of low blood sugar—can also
be accompanied by a variety of other physiological and psychological responses.
According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., low
blood-sugar levels can trigger physical symptoms such as shaking,
light-headedness and feeling tired and/or psychological symptoms such as
depression, paranoia, irritability and memory problems. Dr. Kappas found an
association between a person’s low blood-sugar levels and fluctuating
suggestibility with the onset of a phobic response.
In this afternoon’s Tech Talk segment, Mr. Saavedra explained how our
body responds and our corresponding behavior when blood-sugar levels drop,
i.e., when we are hungry. He did not specifically address the relationship between
blood-sugar levels and fear/phobic response, but much of what he described
supported what I explained in one of my previous blogs, How
This Snickers Ad Got It (Sort of) Right. He even explained why the popular
chocolate bar would not be an ideal choice of nourishment when we are hungry,
which I also discussed in that blog. I thought it was great that a popular
radio program was addressing this physiological and behavioral response to
hunger; talk about a captive audience. At one point, co-host Shannon Ferren
commented that talking about food on the show was making her hungry. I bet she
wasn’t the only one.
I’m sure that any number of listeners, likely stuck in bumper-to-bumper
traffic somewhere, was also hungry and frustrated at being unable to get off
the road to get a meal during that broadcast. But even if they had been able to
stop somewhere for food, how likely was it that they would hit the
drive-through at a fast-food restaurant for a burger, fries and a sugary soda? Would
anyone have opted to go to a grocery store and buy a healthier option with protein such as chicken salad or a
package of sliced cheese or almonds? How many of those drivers were sipping on
a latte with a couple ad-shots of espresso or munching on a snack-bar that they
stowed in the glove compartment for those kinds of food emergencies on the
road?
As I write this blog, I wonder how many road-rage incidents are sparked
or exacerbated because one or all parties involved in the conflict are hungry. Hunger
is not an excuse for road rage or any other kind of violence, but would it
explain the extreme volatile reaction to some extent? When you combine the psychological
stress of a personal frustration such as driving in heavy traffic while we are
physiologically compromised (low blood-sugar level), is it any surprise when
tempers flare?
This
broadcast was definitely food for thought. Pun intended.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist
based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2016
