Have you ever wondered what makes you feel hungry or full? The signals that the body gives help control the amount of food a person consumes. Ghrelin, sometimes referred to as the hunger hormone, is thought to be one such signal.
Produced in the upper part of the stomach, ghrelin increases the feeling of hunger. When the stomach is empty, this hormone travels through the bloodstream and tells the brain to signal hunger, and after eating, the stomach stops releasing ghrelin.
Ghrelin levels fluctuate throughout the day. It is high just before a meal, signaling to the body that you are hungry, and low immediately after a meal, making it clear that you are full. However, many factors influence its level.

When you consume less food than usual due to diet, ghrelin levels rise markedly. Thus, the body tries to force you to eat more in order to slow down weight loss. And this is one of the reasons why many people tend to feel more hungry during weight loss diets. Weight stable people have fewer changes in ghrelin levels and more balanced hunger and satiety throughout the day, which is no longer perceived as a stressful situation for the body. What else can affect the hunger hormone? Research has shown that sleep patterns have a direct effect on ghrelin. Sleep-deprived adults tend to have higher levels of ghrelin, experiencing greater hunger and less satiety compared to adults who sleep seven to nine hours a night. This means that it is imperative to get enough sleep in order to feel good and look the way you want, since weight directly depends on this factor.

In turn, sleep patterns can also depend on nutrition. So balancing both indicators can be a good idea, not only in terms of normalizing well-being, but also achieving the desired appearance.