Question

What role does the hypothalamus play in our motivation to eat?

Answer 1

What role does the hypothalamus play in our motivation to eat?

Hunger and it’s origin is not only from the stomach. Rather, the biology of hunger begins from the hypothalamus. Two areas of the hypothalamus would be controlling hunger, the first is the lateral hypothalamus and the second is the ventrimedial hypothalamus. When the lateral hypothalamus is stuimukated, it causes a person to feel hunger. If a person’s lateral hypothalamus is damaged, the person would never be feeling hungry from the physical aspect.

The ventromedial hypothalamus plays a role in ma’inf a person feel full. When a person is eating enormous food and stops thinking of having another bite, it is because the ventromedial hypothalamus would stop them in doing so. How the hypothalamus Functions in deciding about the food to eat, it is by the set point theory. This theory describes that the hypothalamus would want to maintain a particular weight or an optimum body weight. As a person falls below this optimum weight, the hypothalamus begins by motivating a person to eat more. As a person would drop below this weight the hypothalamus would lower our metabolic rate and the rate at which the body would use energy. As the set point would be reached the hypothalamus would inhibit the eating responses and increase the metabolic rate so as to burn the excess food.