We’re all too familiar with this narrative: pre-drinks which leads to more drinks in town, that then leads to a nightclub, which eventually leads to stumbling into your local kebab shop at 4am. Despite your prior (and apparently weak) sober efforts to ensure that you consume nothing more than a litre of water and a paracetamol before bed, you will inevitably wake up to a collection of takeaway boxes, a headache and regret. Although we are not yet able to fight off the power of the munchies, the least we can do is understand why through this scientific explanation of why a night of drinking always ends up in McDonalds…
Let’s set the scene. It’s the end of the night, you may or may not have had one too many double vodka cokes, and your more sober friends are desperately trying to shove you into an Uber home. You, on the other hand, are prowling the streets in search of the nearest golden arches. The hunger you experience isn’t just felt in your stomach, it’s also felt in your brain. A study published by Nature Communications proposes that alcohol significantly increases our appetite by stimulating nerves in the hypothalamus, a structure in the brain that maintains internal balance by regulating bodily processes like hunger and thirst. These nerves also happen to be the same nerves that are activated by real starvation! The study’s results point to a link between hunger and the stimulation of our agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons during intoxication. Our brain therefore tricks our body into believing that it’s starving and urgently requires energy dense, highly caloric food – also known as a Big Mac.
As well as interfering with hunger-associated nerves, alcohol also disturbs our hormones that control satiety. Leptin is a hormone that suppresses appetite and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) regulates normal food intake. Research has demonstrated that drinking alcohol inhibits the release of these hormones into our bloodstream, which in turn distorts our natural patterns of hunger. Instead, we find that even after demolishing a large meat feast pizza, those cheesy chips look even more appetising. Why? Because our body quite literally and physically feels like it could eat for two people. Unfortunately, this is what tends to happen during those uncivilised early hours of the morning when we probably should have gone to bed ages ago.
Although the brain is mostly responsible for these seemingly uncontrollable desires, predatory strategies from the food and drink industry can also be held accountable. When intently examining Deliveroo and UberEats upon arriving home from a night of drinking, you’re likely to only be greeted by an abundance of fast-food places that are open suspiciously late. Not only is it unusual that you’ll find a salad bar, but it’s even more unusual that you’ll want to eat anything that’s not deep fried or smothered in garlic sauce. Alcohol diminishes our blood sugar levels, inducing intense cravings for sugar and carbs. By impairing our liver’s ability to release the appropriate amount of glycogen into our bloodstream, our blood glucose levels become destabilised from lack of proper regulation. This in conjunction with the limited accessibility to healthy food explains why we consistently find ourselves running to the nearest KFC after a night out.
So don’t blame yourself when you’re tucking into that takeaway at 4am. Blame it on your brain.