# Sleep kills hunger pangs, why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552 "2003-08-30T02:19:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfsbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@wolfsbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfsbane)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/1 "2003-08-30T02:19:02Z")
I often go to bed painfully hungry, and have noticed that when I wake up, even in the middle of the night, the hunger pangs are gone, and don’t come back for an hour or so after I wake up in the morning. I read somewhere that in poverty-stricken times in the past, the saying was “sleep is the poor man’s supper”. Why does hunger abate while sleeping I wonder? One would think it would keep you awake. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/2 "2003-08-30T03:10:48Z")
Not 100% sure, but I’d guess that it has something to do with the nightly release of growth hormone. ---
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/3 "2003-08-30T03:13:59Z")
Or maybe a near miss with Death Ray Weapons? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/4 "2003-08-30T13:23:34Z")
I’m always starving when I wake up, and I can’t sleep at all if I go to bed hungry, so I doubt this is universal. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/5 "2003-08-30T14:31:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolfsbane \* > \*\* > I read somewhere that in poverty-stricken times in the past, the saying was “sleep is the poor man’s supper”. > > Why does hunger abate while sleeping I wonder? \*\* Hmmm, IMO most people wake up in the morning rather hungry, since they haven’t eaten for eight hours or more at that point. This is why we have breakfast (some people even believe the term comes from “breaking the fast,” but this isn’t so). Anyway, I think “sleep is the poor man’s supper” refers to the fact that you don’t experience hunger while asleep. So if you don’t have any food, sleep is a good way to avoid hunger pangs temporarily while also conserving energy. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/6 "2003-08-30T14:33:06Z")
Same here. If I’m dead tired at work, I manage to stay awake by not eating. If I eat, I fall asleep in my chair. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/7 "2003-08-30T14:35:43Z")
My WAG is that while hunger does come on a basic level from a physiological event - i.e. lack of food - it also has a significant experiential feature. In other words, when we are used to eating at a certain time, and we don’t, we get hungry. We get trained to expect to eat and when we don’t eat, we experience that deprivation as hunger. I think that your going to bed hungry (I’m wondering why someone would do that?) is connected to the way you live your life, your eating habits, your expectations, etc. as much as it does some innate lack of nutrition at that particular time of day. When you wake up later, or the next morning, you’re at a different part of your eating cycle and the whole thing just starts again. If you’re not usually hungry in the morning, then even going to bed hungry won’t change that. That’s my theory and although it’s not particularly articulate, I’m sticking with it. xo C. ---
**Author:** ![spogga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@spogga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spogga)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/8 "2003-08-30T14:48:41Z")
I start work at 0500 and am up about 1 hour before that, If I eat even tho’ I may be hungry I feel sick and am likely to throw up. When I get home from work around 12 noon I could eat a dead skunk…raw!!! without any ill effects ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/9 "2003-08-30T15:41:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by aaslatten_ > Hmmm, IMO most people wake up in the morning rather hungry, since they haven’t eaten for eight hours or more at that point. This is why we have breakfast (some people even believe the term comes from “breaking the fast,” but this isn’t so). Do you have a cite for that? [Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=breakfast) says that “breakfast” does indeed have the origin you claim is false. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/10 "2003-08-30T15:57:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amore ac studio \* > \*\*Do you have a cite for that? [Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=breakfast) says that “breakfast” does indeed have the origin you claim is false. \*\* You’re right. Oxford English Dictionary confirms that it does come from “breaking the fast.” I don’t know why I thought it was wrong. My scoutmaster used to say it came from that, and I always wondered if he was right. It seems like I looked it up a few years ago and found out he was wrong, but I guess not. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/11 "2003-08-30T17:36:03Z")
Just a data point - the French have a saying: “Qui dort dine.” - he who sleeps, dines. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/12 "2003-08-30T18:05:46Z")
I read somewhere that after twelve hours of hunger, you stop experiencing hunger pangs. It has indeed been my experience that if I eat dinner at 6-7, go to bed at 11-12, and wake up at 8-9, I can basically not eat that morning and not suffer from it. ---
**Author:** ![culov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@culov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/culov)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/13 "2003-09-01T07:53:28Z")
I am exactly like the OP. Im a little hungry right now but ill most likely go to sleep in an hour or 2 without eating anything and will wake up not hungry at all. I HATE eating breakfast because im never hungry until at least 2 hours after i wake up. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/14 "2003-09-01T08:13:44Z")
‘they’ say that the stomach is a separate entity (with it’s own brains too) , so when it goes to sleep it won’t pester you, when you wake up it takes some time for it to wake too so you won’t feel hungry till then. of course if it’s _really_ hungry it won’t even let you sleep until you feed it (or wake you up if you’re asleep), and it’s usually adamant about being fed on schedule. 😛 😃 so do you own your stomach, or vice versa? ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-kills-hunger-pangs-why/198552/15 "2003-09-01T15:25:08Z")
If I’m hungry at bedtime I toss and turn all night.