Hunger is the worst enemy of any dieter or health conscious.
Healthy hunger is a signal that your body needs some kind of fuel to function properly. Here, fuel means food. If you missed a meal, being hungry is normal.
But if you have eaten a meal and are too hungry for your next meal, do not make the mistake of taking this problem lightly. Being hungry all the time is not a good sign.
A variety of medical reasons may be behind your unnecessary cravings. In such cases, you should take care of it as soon as possible to avoid more serious health consequences.
1. Poor Sleep
Agitated sleepers and those who have difficulty sleeping 7 to 8 hours a day may be hungry all the time.
A poor night’s sleep can affect two appetite-related hormones. It can cause an increase in the level of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, as well as a decrease in the level of leptin, a hormone that causes feelings of fullness.
In addition to feeling hungry, other symptoms of sleep deprivation include a change in mood, clumsiness, not staying alert, increasing accidents, staying awake during the day and gaining weight, to name a few.
Aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. In doing so, you will recover your energy level and your hunger hormones.
2. Excess Stress
During the fight or the flight mode, the cortisol of the body’s stress hormone increases. This hormone convinces your body to eat. In fact, cortisol makes you crave sugar and high-fat foods.
Eating more during stress does not reduce negative emotions or anxieties, but rather triggers the need to eat more and leads to weight gain and more health problems.
Other stress-related symptoms include anger, fatigue, headaches, sleep problems, upset stomach, and more.
To fight stress, exercise and meditate. Even listening to music can help control your stress level.
3. Thyroid Issues
Excessive hunger is also associated with hyperthyroidism, a common condition that affects the thyroid gland. If your thyroid is overactive, it means you have hyperthyroidism.
When thyroid hormone levels are too high, the vital functions of the body accelerate and you burn energy faster than expected. As your body accelerates metabolically, it increases hunger accordingly
When you have hyperthyroidism, you do not gain weight even after eating too much. Instead, you lose weight since you burn calories at a much faster rate.
In addition to a change in appetite and hypertrophy of the thyroid gland, other signs of hyperthyroidism are rapid pulse, swelling of the eyes, feeling of nervousness, excessive sweating, muscle weakness and feeling of thirst, even after drinking water.
4. Low Blood Sugar
Low blood sugar or hypoglycemia means that the glucose level in your body has dropped to a very low level. Low blood sugar can make you hungry.
The brain needs energy to function and glucose is accepted by the brain as fuel. So when the sugar in your blood stream goes down, your brain does it too. The brain then starts to give signals that your body needs fuel, so you start to get hungry.