When your glucose level is low, you may get hungry. It probably keeps track of a substance called glucose, or blood sugar. Your appestat must monitor many different chemical processes to keep you eating healthy amounts. The fat mouse no longer knew when to stop eating. What had happened? The balance between how much food it ate and how much food it used up through activity was thrown off. The mouse with the changed hypothalamus soon grew twice as fat as the normal mouse. Researchers compared two kinds of mice - a normal one, and one whose hypothalamus had been changed through surgery. ![]() One experiment that helped scientists discover the hypothalamus's part in controlling appetite involved white mice. This walnut-sized section of your brain is also in charge of such vital things as your body temperature. They know that it is located in a tiny part of your brain called the hypothalamus. They are still trying to figure out exactly how the appestat decides when to tell you to eat and to stop eating. Scientists call the part of your brain that controls eating behavior your appestat. The device that keeps track of how warm your house is is called a thermostat. It's like the gas gauge on a car - when it gets near "empty," the driver knows that it's time to refill the tank. That's because the special part of your brain that controls your appetite knows that your body still has enough fuel to keep it working for a while. ![]() Your brain plays a role in eating patterns, too.Īfter your stomach has done its job and sent the food along to the next part of your digestive system, you still won't feel hungry for a while. It's not just a matter of emptying your stomach and filling it up again at regular times. The feeling you call hunger is pretty complicated. Nerve endings in your stomach send signals to your brain saying, "Enough." Your stomach - a muscular, pear-shaped bag located right between your ribs above your bellybutton - has something to work on. You feel full because you are full, of course. If someone offers you a second helping, you may say, "I'm stuffed." Even if there's a piece of your favorite kind of pie in front of you, you can't imagine eating it. Then, after you gobble up a snack, you feel satisfied. But you are getting a powerful signal from your body that says, "Feed me." It takes a lot longer than the length of a soccer game for the human body to really start running out of fuel. You may even run into the kitchen at home yelling, "I'm starving!" That's an exaggeration, of course. If you play soccer outside on a cold day, you feel very hungry afterward. ![]() Digestion is the way your body breaks food down into the separate substances it uses to fuel all your activities, whether you're humming a tune, jumping rope or reading a book. Those gurgling sounds are the side effects of a process called digestion. You can hear them if you put your ear against a friend's belly. After a meal, your stomach and the rest of your digestive tract continue to make noises. When you feel the churnings, you know that you're hungry. The muscular walls of your stomach whoosh the juices around like a washing machine churning water, and the sounds begin. ![]() It's a sign that your stomach is doing its job - creating liquids called digestive juices, and churning them around inside. Next time your stomach starts to growl, tell your giggling friend that it's nothing to worry about, you just have borborygmi.īorborygmi may make you blush when it happens in a quiet place, but the noise is a normal event. In fact, stomach-growling has a fancy scientific name. How embarrassing!Įveryone's stomach growls now and then. Suddenly, you hear a strange sound: GRRRRRRRR. You can imagine your teeth taking the first bite. You've already finished, and as you wait for your teacher to collect the paper you start thinking about the chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread that's in your lunchbox. The room is quiet, except for the sound of pencils scratching across paper.
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