• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Whey Protein
    • Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Lack of Food Might Make You Better at Making Decisions

You might want to hold off on eating dinner before your next big poker game.

Doug Dupont

Written by Doug Dupont Last updated on November 21, 2014

Many people who have used intermittent fasting and other hunger-inducing dietary strategies have noticed some interesting effects. Many of these claims may even seem counterintuitive, such as more energy or less hunger over time.

A recent study in PLOS ONE considered whether possible improvements in decision-making ability may arise from hunger.

What the research says:

  • Subjects who were hungry made better long-term choices than sated subjects.
  • Subjects who were hungry and had smaller appetites fared best on gambling tests.

Background

The researchers were particularly interested in fasting’s frequently reported effect of greater focus and mental acuity. From a primitive perspective, the theory that not eating might increase the willingness to take on greater risk makes sense. I’m hungry and my hunger leads me to make ever more perilous decisions to obtain food. It’s possible this intuitive decision-making might even apply to a broader range of activities. If I’m hungry, maybe I’ll be better at making risky financial decisions, too.

The researchers of the study noted delaying eating can put a person in what they referred to as a hot state. A hot state is one in which either emotions or physical drives (like hunger) are piqued. For example, people have reported a powerful desire for money while hungry.

“The researchers indicated that these circumstances in which our innate drives are primed cause us to rely on our gut. This primal instinct tends to support accurate decision-making.”

Hot states have a long clinical history of increasing impulsivity, which then affects the ability to make decisions. The researchers in this study proposed an alternate viewpoint. They hypothesized that in a certain set of circumstances, a hot state may actually improve decision-making. In some situations, we need to make complex decisions that do not have certain outcomes. Many financial and business decisions are like this. Hunger has never before been tested on these specific types of decisions.

RELATED: 4 Things Other Than Food You Might Be Craving

Study Design

The new research was a combination of three different studies:

  1. Study One: A gambling task that compared hungry participants to sated participants (30 subjects total).
  2. Study Two: A gambling task that compared participants with big appetites to subjects with smaller appetities (50 subjects total).
  3. Study Three: Hungry and sated subjects were compared once again, but in this case the researchers looked at 27 situations. The subjects chose a monetary reward that was either immediate or delayed.

Results

Hunger outperformed a fed state in complex decisionmaking with uncertain outcomes. The researchers indicated that these are circumstances in which our innate drives cause us to rely on our gut. This primal instinct supported accurate decision-making.

In the first two studies, the gambling task was performed better by the hungry people and those with smaller appetites. In the third study, the hungry subjects proved to be better at resisting large and tempting fiscal rewards that weren’t beneficial in the long run.

So, as the title of the study – Always Gamble on an Empty Stomach – implies, you might be better at making complex decisions when you are hungry. Bear in mind, an empty stomach alone might not be enough. The actual state of desiring food or having a big appetite along with hunger is most important.

References:

1. Denise de Ridder, et. al., “Always Gamble on an Empty Stomach: Hunger Is Associated with Advantageous Decision Making,” PLoS ONE 2014, 9(10)

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Doug Dupont

About Doug Dupont

Having grown up at the foot of a forest covered mountain in rural Vermont, Doug was active from a very young age. Hiking, running, and climbing were a part of everyday life in the Green Mountains. This culture of exercise led to dabbling in martial arts as a teen, and also getting work in a local powerlifting focused gym. Doug continued to pursue knowledge and training in exercise, becoming a certified personal trainer while still a teenager. Once in college he began his hand at the business side of fitness, taking a management position at a large local gym. During that time he became a founding member of the UVM Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club, and was the first among their competition team. After only a few months he was assisting in coaching, and ran conditioning program for the club.

Out of college Doug set up his own training center. He grew his list of clientele including several professional MMA athletes, eventually going so far as to corner a world title fight. He has continued ­­­to develop his business into today.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

exercisecantcureeverything
Exercise Can’t Cure Everything
5reasonstoworkout
5 Reasons to Work Out that Have Nothing to Do With a Bikini Body
1.5% of American woman will suffer from an anorexia nervosa
How Eating Disorders Rewrite the Brain
Method Man Incline Dumbbell Presses December 2022
Check Out Rapper Method Man Cruising Through 120-Pound Incline Dumbbell Presses for 10 Reps

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

Justin Medeiros Walks Through a Full Tour of His Home Gym Before CrossFit Season

Powerlifter Jimmy Kolb Logs 612.5-Kilogram (1,350.3-Pound) Equipped Bench Press World Record

The Ultimate Back and Biceps Workout for Every Lifter From Beginner to Advanced

Strongman Legend Hafthor Björnsson Receives International Sports Hall of Fame Induction

Latest Reviews

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

Best Home Gym Machines

Best Home Gym Machines

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About