Even the rosiest of relationships can have thorny moments. It might be that your beloved forgot the anniversary of the day that you first met while arguing over who could order the last biscotti at your favourite café. Perhaps it the way the love of your life insists on turning their toast upside-down to eat it or maybe it is their tendency to say “right†when they mean “leftâ€. There are many things that can irritate but what is it that makes you able to deal with this things some times when at others you dissolve into fury? According to new research the answer might not lie in couples therapy but in your blood sugar.
For the study researchers had married couples completed a questionnaire designed to measure relationship satisfaction. Every individual in the study used a blood glucose metre to measure blood sugar levels in the morning before breakfast and in the evening before bed every day for three weeks. To measure anger levels subjects were given a voodoo doll that they were told represented their spouse. At the end of each day for the three weeks they were asked to insert between 0 and 51 pins into the doll to reflect how angry they were feeling with their spouse. This was done alone, without the spouse being present, and they recorded the number of pins that they inserted.
Analysis of the data showed that the lower the subject’s blood sugar levels at the evening reading, the more pins they stuck into the doll and hence the angrier they were at their partner. So it seems that simply being hungry can make you more likely to be angry at your beloved.
In a second study the researchers had the couples see who could press a button faster when a target square turned red on the computer. The subjects were in separate rooms and in reality they were awarded as the “winner†around 50 per cent of the time. The partner who won was allowed each time to blast their partner with a loud noise through headphones. The noise level could be unpleasant but was restricted so it would not cause damage. After measuring blood sugar levels again it emerged that partner’s with lower blood sugar levels were more likely to use louder noises on their partner. As in the first experiment these results held true regardless of overall relationship satisfaction levels.
In essence then, the research shows that low blood sugar caused by hunger can make you angry at your partner. So if you are feeling a touch “hangry†maybe a “chill pill†won’t be enough; you might need “soothe food†to ease your “hangerâ€.
