Woke up immediately hungry? this is the cause & bull; hello healthy

Have you ever felt very hungry when you wake up even though you have eaten before bed? If so, you might be wondering why this happened. And, should you be worried?

Of course, what you need to know is, although it is normal to wake up in the morning hungry and a growling stomach, nevertheless, you still have to find out the cause; because it could indicate that there is a problem in your digestive system.

Why is it unhealthy to eat before bed

Eating at night right before you go to bed is not recommended, as it is the same as speeding up your "breakfast" time and leaving your stomach empty for a long time.

Let's say you go to bed at 10 PM and wake up at 5 AM; that means you leave your stomach empty for 7 hours. In fact, your body will work optimally if you get food intake every 3 hours. Moreover, even though your body is sleeping, your body will still work hard to repair damaged cells and muscles so that the body still needs energy or fuel while sleeping.

For this reason, right before going to bed is not a good time to eat because it will irritate your body's digestive system and can make you gain weight and wake up hungry.

Then why can you wake up immediately hungry?

Here are the scientific reasons why you wake up hungry in the morning after eating late at night:

1. The hypothalamus, the appetite center

Appetite and hunger that arise in you are regulated by the hypothalamus in the brain. These "appetite centers" in the brain will later consolidate and analyze neurological, hormonal, mechanical and psychological signals; it is this complex mechanism that controls your appetite, including the impact of the timing of your meal. And without you knowing it, eating late at night can actually provoke physiological changes that will increase hunger the next day.

In addition, the appetite center also plays a role in responding to the level of glucose levels in your blood and your body's hormones such as ghrelin, leptin and thyroid hormones. Fluctuations in hormones and blood glucose levels will also affect your appetite. For example, a drop in blood glucose level or an increase in the hormone ghrelin will stimulate hunger; while increasing levels of glucose or the hormone leptin will suppress your appetite.

2. The hormone insulin

The hormone insulin can also affect your appetite. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas in response to the food you eat. Insulin will stimulate the cells in the liver, fat tissue and muscle to absorb glucose and then burn it to be used as energy for the body or store it for the body's energy reserves. When insulin lowers your glucose levels, your pancreas and adrenal glands produce counter-regulatory hormones, such as glucagon and epinephrine.

The appetite centers in your brain are stimulated by lowered glucose levels and counter-regulatory hormones that will make you feel hungry again. Thus, the more pancreatic insulin your body produces in response to the food you eat, the greater your potential to feel hungry again.

When you eat right before going to bed (especially eating foods rich in sugar and carbohydrates), your body will produce a lot of the hormone insulin from the pancreas. After it's finished being produced, the insulin will push glucose into your body's cells, and this process will continue even though you sleep.

As long as you are asleep, there will be a continuous decrease in your blood glucose which then stimulates the release of counter-regulatory hormones, thereby causing stimulation of your appetite center. So because of the process, it's no surprise that when you wake up in the morning you will be very hungry; unless you wake up in the middle of the night and eat to get rid of your sudden hunger.

So, are you still wondering why you feel so hungry when you wake up even though you've eaten a lot at night?