True and false feelings of hunger in the stomach

The first scientist to become interested in the mechanism by which the feeling of hunger appears in the stomach was the famous researcher and physiologist I. P. Pavlov.

He conducted a series of experiments on dogs and determined that the brain of a living creature has a special food area responsible for the emergence of a feeling of hunger and satiety. If you send stimuli to the area that determines the feeling of hunger, then this feeling increases, but if this area is damaged, then hunger disappears.

The satiety zone functions in the exact opposite way: when stimuli are supplied to this zone, the body feels full, but when the zone is damaged, an uncontrollable feeling of hunger sets in.

The scientist discovered in practice that both of these zones interact, mutually counteracting each other: the feeling of satiety suppresses the feeling of hunger, and vice versa.

But what exactly causes the brain to signal feelings of hunger or satiety?

The first proven hypothesis about the causes of hunger was the experiment of the same scientist Pavlov. He created a false filling of the stomach in an experimental animal: as a result, its feeling of hunger completely disappeared. From this experiment, it was concluded that the feeling of hunger in the stomach is caused by its emptiness and decrease in volume, and when the stomach is full, no signals of hunger are received.

However, this theory was later supplemented as not always corresponding to reality. When a hungry dog was given a blood transfusion from a well-fed dog, the former felt full. At the same time, the dog's stomach remained empty.

From this it was concluded that this symptom is directly dependent not only on the fullness of the stomach, but also on the level of glucose and nutrients in the blood.

False feeling of hunger

It can appear in many situations, but it is necessary to recognize it and distinguish it from true hunger in time. This feeling of hunger can occur for several reasons:

• alcohol consumption. Even in small doses, alcohol increases appetite, so it has been experimentally proven that after drinking it, a person inevitably eats more food;
• idleness, boredom. Often the desire to have a snack arises from doing nothing, or while idly watching TV. In this case, food is a way to simultaneously "keep yourself busy with something" and get pleasure from it;
• sleep deficit and chronic fatigue. Scientists have proven that lack of sleep and adequate rest disrupts the body's "feeling of hunger - feeling of satiety" regime, so we start eating when we don't really want to and stop controlling the feeling of satiety. This process, fortunately, is reversible: stabilizing sleep and rest restores our eating regime;
• the presence of something tasty in the refrigerator, colorful display cases with baked goods that we come across on our way - all this makes us eat even when we don’t want to. When you see an appetizing cake, it may seem that this is exactly what you were missing right now. This state is also provoked by the appearance of a false feeling of hunger;
• feeling of hunger "for the company". Even if you recently had lunch, but your friends invited you to a restaurant, you, watching them eat, will also involuntarily reach for a tasty morsel. This is a manifestation of visual appetite, which is one of the provoking factors of this sign;
• strict diets. Following too strict and limited diets exhausts the body, as a result of which it begins to demand food "in reserve", in case of another restriction or starvation. Hence - frequent "breakdowns" and night "raids" on the refrigerator.