Curious on your take here - whenever I am very hungry I notice that my sense are acutely aware of any smell and are generally sharper (outside of the hunger part). Wouldn't that similarity translate to after a post fasted run that your brain is also much more acutely aware since it has been starved of food and is now trying to (in a historical sense) forage or hunt for food on a short term need?
I just commented elsewhere but to repeat myself with what I think you might be describing:
From what I understand humans have evolved to run incredibly long distances relatively efficiently because much of our densest caloric intake (historically) came as a result of simply chasing down our prey until it essentially collapsed from exhaustion.
Even though I find that it "feels" more difficult running for my calories (at this distance) I actually end up with surprisingly good performance. I can't help but think there's some fundamental drive and resulting reward system that (subconsciously) thinks "If you don't beat the animal you're chasing you're not eating today".
I imagine something similar happens in terms of your enhanced senses for smell, being similar for foraging (and potentially even prey detection).
> Curious on your take here - whenever I am very hungry I notice that my sense are acutely aware of any smell and are generally sharper (outside of the hunger part). Wouldn't that similarity translate to after a post fasted run that your brain is also much more acutely aware since it has been starved of food and is now trying to (in a historical sense) forage or hunt for food on a short term need?
This seems to be normal and common when fasting. It happens to me personally and I’ve read comments from other people who experience it too.
