What to Do When “Hanger” Strikes at the Office 

ZeroCater shared with Healthy Lombard that whether it’s in the morning or afternoon, feeling hangry is horrible. Your temper gets short. Your body feels off. Your stomach’s not rumbling, it’s roaring. It’s hard to think clearly at the moment, much less think ahead, and you’re ready to bite the head off anyone who irks you.

That double-punch combo of anger and hunger, a feeling is known as “hanger”, is very real. It doesn’t mean you are a horrible, ill-tempered person. It just means you really need something to eat. Even better, feeling hangry can be prevented, even during a busy workday.

What hanger is (and yes, it’s real)

“Hangry” has been in common use since 1918, but only officially joined the English language in 2018, when Merriam-Webster added the word to the dictionary. Even prior to becoming an official word, you’d find hangry mentioned everywhere from The New York Times to Ebony, CNN, and NBC.  A portmanteau of “hungry” and “angry”, hangry simply means you feel incredibly hungry to the point that you feel increasingly irritable and short-tempered.

Hanger has also been the subject of a growing body of research and study, as scientists and medical professionals try to figure out the physical and psychological causes and effects of feeling hangry. At the workplace too, “hanger” can be an issue: When you can’t think clearly or have a snippy attitude, it’s hard to be a productive, focused, get-it-done team player. 

Hanger is preventable

Unfortunately, eating junk food leads to that classic “crash” when your blood sugar sharply decreases again, leaving you feeling pretty crummy. Luckily, you can manage hanger without sugar.

To prevent or stop feeling hangry eat regularly

Yup. It’s really that simple.

Of course, even a modest solution has its details. Here are a few other tasty tactical tidbits to prevent hanger in the first place:

  • Keep tabs on your overall emotional state
    If you’re feeling irritable, there’s a good chance you’re due for a healthy meal or snack. Get in touch with your feelings, do a quick personal review—frame it however you want.
  • Being aware of your emotions can also lessen hanger’s negative impact
    Research demonstrates that just being aware of your emotions can help you take the sting out of a hangry short temper.
  • Don’t blame the world
    Bad meeting? Did someone cut you off in traffic? Whatever made you grumpy, look inward before you blame outward. Crabbiness may be “hanger”, which can make you overreact to challenging situations.

To read the entire article, click here.

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