Many neurodivergent people struggle to feel internal cues and bodily sensations, including hunger and fullness:
Can you relate to this? Let us know in the comments below!
Neurodivergent People and Hunger
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Uh what? When did this become a thing?
For some of us, this has always been a thing.
This is also why I have always been against having to ask for permission to use the bathroom, or “no eating in class.”
It’s also why I am a huge fan of remote work, I can have a stash of healthy snacks next to my desk, so when I get the hunger notification, I can grab one of them, and try to keep my body sending me said “notifications”… I went almost 5 years without knowing that I was hungry, because I ignored a couple of attempts that my body sent me, so it stopped. (And, it’s a huge pain to get your body to start telling you again that you are hungry.)
Ah, yeah. Thats me in a nutshell. Bathroom breaks are for when the 10 second countdown to soiling myself has begun. Hunger/thirst is only valid when it directly impacts my performance. Eating is either All or Nothing. Clean the plate, or dont have a meal. Sleep is weird, too. I love sleeping in, except it hurts and makes me groggy. I work best on 4-6 hours of sleep and getting up right away once i am cognizant i am “Awake”.
It’s a thing. Let me paint you a realistic scenario (realistic because it has happened many times):
I, a neurodivergent individual, am at work. Due to the nature of my job (and the size of our breakroom), there is a distinct schedule by which my coworkers and I take our lunch breaks. On this particular day, I have slept in and missed breakfast (this is also a thing that happens regularly; I prioritize extra sleep over food). I start to feel hungry. I look at the clock; the time is one hour before my scheduled lunch break, and therefore, a group before mine is taking their break. Lacking other options, I keep working, attempting to ignore my hunger pangs, which are uncomfortable as the post indicates, but can be overcome if I can manage to focus on work instead.
Fast-forward one hour. It is now time for my lunch break. And I feel … nothing. My body, having been deprived of food for long enough, has decided that food will not be forthcoming at any point soon, and must therefore focus all its attention on surviving longer without it; after all, the message was sent, the message was ignored, what more can you do?!
I don’t feel hungry at all, but I know logically that it is time to eat. So I get my food from the refrigerator, sit down, and begin eating — and the hunger returns, not as hunger for food that may be coming in the future, but as a hunger in the process of being satisfied by food that is coming now. There is now a reason to feel this, because there’s something I can DO about it.
Now take this scenario and apply it to a decision to finish up a task before moving onto another, and you will have some idea of how neurodivergents can “forget” to eat because they’re focused on other things. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go heat up dinner now that I’m done writing this comment.
I know this feeling, in every particular. And I didn’t know it was to do with my ND until seeing this article.