Author: Bethany Brookshire / Source: Science News for Students
After a long, tough workout, it would seem people should be ravenous. They’ve been working hard and burning calories — energy that must be replaced by fueling the body with more food.
So why do most people and animals eat less after exercise? Scientists think they’ve found the answer in certain brain cells that control appetite. When they get hot and bothered, those cells appear to shut down the need to feed.Young-Hwan Jo is a neuroscientist — someone who studies the brain. He works at the Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. And as an athlete, Jo admits he has a personal stake in studying exercise and appetite. “I run three times a week,” he notes, and afterward “I’m not very hungry.” Being a scientist, he wanted to know why these workouts suppressed his appetite.
As Jo thought about the role of exercise, heat kept coming to mind. “Exercise increases body temperature,” he explains. Maybe the brain was responding to warmer temperatures by reducing hunger. Jo and his team decided to test that idea. They focused on the brain’s hypothalamus because it is important in controlling appetite. Located near the center of the brain, it’s roughly behind the bridge of your nose. This tissue releases hormones — chemicals that travel in blood to reach even distant parts of the body.
The hypothalamus isn’t just one big glop of cells. Within it, small groups of nerve cells, or neurons — known as nuclei — perform different functions. One group of cells, the arcuate (AR-kew-ate) nucleus, is important in controlling appetite.
A complex layer of cells, known as the blood-brain barrier, serves to protect the brain from potential poisons that might be circulating in the blood.
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