Satiety

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Satiety, or the feeling of fullness and disappearance of appetite after a meal, is a process mediated by the ventromedial nucleus in the hypothalamus. It is therefore the "satiety centre".

Various hormones, first of all cholecystokinin, have been implicated in conveying the feeling of satiety to the brain. Leptin increases on satiety, while ghrelin increases when the stomach is empty.

Therefore, satiety refers to the psychological feeling of "fullness" or satisfaction rather than to the physical feeling of being engorged, i.e. the feeling of physical fullness after eating a very large meal.

Satiety directly influences feelings of appetite that are generated in the limbic system, and hunger that is controlled by neurohormones, especially serotonin in the lateral hypothalamus.

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