How exercise tells the brain to curb appetite

When we exercise, our bodies become hot and we start to feel flushed. But something else happens: our appetites decrease after the workout. Researchers set out to explore exactly why and how this happens.

Ever wondered why you seem to lose your appetite after a workout? A new study may have found the answer.

For a long time, I lived with the conviction that the more physically active I was, the more my appetite would increase. Makes sense, right?

Surely, I would think, the body will call for a replacement of all the calories burnt while jogging or dancing.

But my appetite never increased, and all of my expectations had been entirely wrong.

Studies have now shown that aerobic exercise — such as running, cycling, and swimming — actually decreases appetite by changing the levels of hormones that drive our state of hunger.

However, the underlying biological mechanisms that are therefore set in motion, and which tell our bodies to secrete fewer of the hormones that drive hunger, have remained uncertain.

But recently, one researcher decided to take steps toward understanding what goes on in the body after a decent workout.

Young-Hwan Jo, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, was intrigued by how his regular 45-minute runs always left him craving less food than usual.

He believed that the fact that body heat goes up during exercise may play a role in signaling to the brain that appetite needs to go down. He thought the process might be similar to what happens in the body when we eat very spicy foods,