This week on Health Watch, we’re talking about how your brain and processes associated with the brain can affect your physical health — and vice versa. Previously, we talked about research that shows a chemical reason for stress eating.

Levels of a hormone called ghelin — often called the hunger hormone — go up when you don’t eat, but researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center say this may also affect your emotional well being. Dr. Michael Lutter, a UT Southwestern psychiatrist, says the hunger hormones coordinate your body’s response to stress, and therefore they affect your mood and energy levels. Hunger hormones help maintain your weight by making you hungry when your body needs food. But blocking this hormone to keep you from being hungry can make you anxious and depressed, so this isn’t a quick cure for obesity.

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Next, we’ll talk about how the hunger hormones work.