Have you ever done your weekly supermarket shop while peckish? Suddenly a trolley that should have amounted to your normal food budget has somehow doubled in size and price thanks to this frenzied, famished version of yourself, who’s spent the last half an hour clawing snacks from the shelves like a survival special of Supermarket Sweep. We’ve all been there.

The lesson: don’t go food shopping when you’re hungry. But did you know that we’d all do well to extend this lesson out of Tesco, and into the other facets of our lives, too? In fact, research has shown that making any sort of decision when we’re in need of some sustenance is a clanger because it causes us to act impatiently and settle for a result that’s poorer than could be achieved.

The study carried out by Dr Benjamin Vincent from the University of Dundee’s Psychology department experimented with people’s decision-making skills when they had skipped a meal, asking them questions that related both to food, but also financial rewards.

He and former student Jordan Skrynka tested 50 participants twice, once when they had eaten normally and once when they hadn’t eaten that day.

This is why you should never make big decisions when you’re hungry