On Thanksgiving, many of us will eat way more than normal and then waddle away contented, with a turkey and sweet potato buzz.
Having a belly stuffed with comforting food can feel like a warm hug from the inside.
Evolution has given us the instinct to eat a lot every time we can, preparing for hard times. It's the drive to survive, like puffy-cheeked squirrels storing up for the winter. It's also fueled by competition: beating the others to the food.
Our brains reward us for it, by releasing pleasure chemicals -- in the same way as drugs and alcohol, experts say.
Scientists studying that good feeling after eating call it ingestion analgesia, literally pain relief from eating.
"There are reward circuits to make you enjoy eating," said Roger Cone, professor and chairman of molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt University. "If we didn't eat, we wouldn't survive."
Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment