How Stress Makes Us Gain Weight

Hey everyone. Today's post will be about how stress can cause you to gain weight. Lets get to it. There is a strong correlation with weight management and stress reduction. When we are under stress, our health behaviors are the first thing to go. We start making excuses for reasons not to go to the gym or exercise. We say that we don't have time to go to the gym or you don't have time to cook a healthy meal, so we instead turn to fast food which is quick and convenient but lacking in health. Our over-scheduled, fast pace lives often win out over our best intentions.

However, research has unlocked a much deeper interaction...one that goes back to our oldest ancestors and shows how the very system designed to help them survive could be threatening our own health. For years, studies have shown a connection between high levels of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva, urine, or blood and being overweight, but a new study has shown that long term stress is connected to being overweight. A study in University College London measured cortisol levels in hair. This allowed for a better sense of cortisol levels over a prolonged period. There is a link between longer term stress and weight, body mass index, waist circumference and abdominal obesity. Exposure to this hormone is associated with greater body fatness.

Evolution designed our bodies to produce instant energy when we are under threat. Our bodies break down both fat and glucose from the liver to use as fuel and circulate it throughout the body. This instant reaction helped us run from dangerous predators. At the same time, our body is depositing fat in the safest place possible to have energy later- under our abdominal muscles. After running for your life, your body will be primed to replenish the calories lost, and your body will produce a cortisol-stimulated appetite to be able to replete the calories your body assumes you've expended.

This method worked for our ancestors, the cave men, but not so much for the modern day human. For modern day humans, this method is less sufficient. Stress mounts up, but we are not burning the calories like we did in the past. When this is done chronically, the body stores more fat deep in your tissues, and you end up eating more. We are not handling life and death situations, but instead we are living a life of lesser but continuous stresses. This is something our body is not designed to handle. When our body never gets out of that fight or flight mode, it becomes chronic stress. You may not realize the impact stress is having on you. Many people are walking around with high stress levels now and don't even know it.

The term comfort food is used for high calorie, high fat foods. The reason they are called comfort foods is due to the fact that when we eat them, our cortisol levels decrease and we feel a sense of relief. It has even been shown that people who overeat under stress actually feel a drug related anesthesia. A good feeling, that is short lived. You just ate a load of calories, your insulin levels skyrocketed, and now you have all of these metabolic consequences. Add genetics and life experiences that turn to stress eating into addictive eating, and you have a serious weight and health consequence. It has also been shown that even children who have had traumatic experiences in their early childhood are more likely to end up overweight or obese. Early in life, they have few outlets to release their stress, so they turn to food, developing a brain-body feedback loop that can actually alter their genes to predispose them to addictive eating.

Lesser stress events can also put your at risk for stress related weight gain. This is why it is important to make lifestyle changes to live your healthiest. Three big changes are exercise, sleep, and food. You want to increase water intake, control food intake, increase movement, consistent sleep patterns, and reduce stress. To reduce stress, try meditation. Regular meditators have a decrease in both the level of stress hormone as well as in the expression of inflammatory genes. The result is better control of overeating and weight gain.

The thing to remember is that theses changes are a long term, lifestyle change, and not a quick fix. You won't be cured overnight. And you won't get that instant gratification, initially, but in the long run you will feel much better. Have patience with yourself and stay positive. There will always be external stressors, but with a healthier all around life style, your body will be better able to handle it and you will manage to keep your stress levels low and weight down. Well that is all for now. Hopefully you learned something new and found some helpful ways to keep your stress levels down. If you have any suggestion please feel free to comment. Thanks for reading and I will see you again soon.